November 22, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Samsung BioLogics CEO Kim Tae-han on May 17 voiced his discomfort with the country’s financial regulator which alleged that the company had broken accounting rules en route to a meeting with authorities. 

Samsung BioLogics CEO Kim Tae-han

“I don’t know how to express this shocking situation where the financial authorities are conducting an investigation again into the issues that already had come under scrutiny by several government agencies three times when the company went public in 2015,” Kim told reporters as he headed to meet the Financial Supervisory Commission members gathered to review the tentative audit findings of the Financial Supervisory Service.

He added that he would make the FSS accountable for revealing its tentative audit results to the press before discussing it with its policy-making arm, the FSC.

During the high-profile hearing that kicked off at 4 p.m., the CEO will defend his company to reverse the FSS audit results, which were announced on May 1, saying that the contract drug maker had illegally inflated earnings before its planned KOSPI listing back in 2016.

Samsung BioLogics has strongly denied the charges, claiming it followed rules backed by Korea’s three major accounting firms.

A final confirmation of the probe will be made at a regular meeting of the Securities and Futures Commission, a sub-commission within the Financial Services Commission, set for early next month. The commission oversees the local securities and futures markets.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)