The state financial crime watchdog, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), had detected suspected irregularities last year involving opposition lawmaker Kim Nam-kuk's cryptocurrency trading and handed over related data to the prosecution, officials said Tuesday.
Kim of the Democratic Party recently came under intense media scrutiny after it was revealed he had owned around 800,000 Wemix coins in his digital wallet under the radar between January and February last year, worth about 6 billion won (US$4.5 million) in total at that time.
He reportedly withdrew all the coins from the digital wallet before the enforcement in March last year of the Travel Rule that requires virtual asset brokers or market operators to report the identities of sellers and buyers to the financial authorities for trading worth 1 million won or more.
Prosecutors earlier said they had sought a search warrant last year to look into how Kim came to possess such a large amount of undisclosed cryptocurrency assets after receiving information on Kim's coin trading from the FIU. The warrant request was later rejected by the court.
On Tuesday, an official at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office said that prior to the warrant request, the FIU informed the prosecution of its findings that Kim's coin trading constituted "abnormal" transactions and handed over related records.
The official, however, did not elaborate on how Kim's coin trading was classified abnormal, only saying, "The FIU seemed to have reached the conclusion in accordance with its own standards."
The official said prosecutors are reviewing whether to seek a search warrant again to look into the money flow behind Kim's cryptocurrency trading.
On Monday, Kim denied any suspected irregularities and said he bought the coins with the money he earned by selling stocks.
But some critics accused Kim of conflict of interest because he co-sponsored a bill proposing a delay of income taxation on virtual assets in July 2021, about six months before he withdrew his Wemix coins from the digital wallet.
Source: Yonhap News Agency