Founder of Kakao accused by civic group of massive tax evasion

This file photo shows its founder Kim Beom-su. (Kakao Corp.)

Kim Beom-su, the founder of South Korean internet giant Kakao Corp., and members of his family were accused by a civic group Monday of a massive tax evasion in a past corporate merger process.

Spec Watch Korea lodged the accusation against Kim and his family members, including his brother-in-law, with the National Police Agency, alleging they evaded a total of 886.3 billion won ($747.6 million) of taxes in the process of Kakao's merger with internet portal Daum Communications Corp. in 2014.

The group claimed K Cube Holdings, Kakao's de facto holding firm owned by Kim, dodged a corporate tax of 363.9 billion won by falsifying its capital gain from the merger. Including this, Kim and his family "deliberately" evaded the taxes in violation of multiple laws, including the capital markets act, the group alleged.

It called on tax authorities to slap a fine of nearly 6.4 trillion won on the accused, five times the amount evaded as dictated by the law that allows an aggravated fine of up to five times the amount of tax evaded in serious tax evasion cases. (Yonhap)