[인포스탁데일리=김영택 기자] “Ecopro’s market cap surpassed Naver and POSCO due to the rechargeable battery craze, but moral hazard among executives and employees, such as insider trading, exceeded the limit.”
The financial authorities seized and searched the headquarters of Ecopro for two days on the 16th and 17th. This is the second seizure after 2020.
Previously, the executives and employees of Ecopro, including Chairman Lee Dong-chae, used inside information to gain undue profits through stock price gains.
In the end, Chairman Lee Dong-chae was indicted on charges of violating the Capital Market Act in May of last year, and was sentenced to 3 years in prison, 5 years probation, and a fine of 3.5 billion won in the first trial.
Chairman Lee Dong-chae and other executives and staff members bought a large amount of stocks before disclosing the details of the mid- to long-term supply contract, then resold them when the stock price rose, making billions of won in illicit profits.
The executives and employees were prosecuted and sentenced to 1 to 1 year and 6 months in prison, probation and fines.
It is said that the investigation into EcoPro by the prosecution and the financial authorities began in earnest after they detected signs of abnormality in the Korea Exchange and reported it to the Special Judicial Police of the Financial Services Commission.
On the 15th, on the online community blind, an article titled ‘Selling all of EcoPro, leaving the company’ was posted, and it was said that he had invested 400 million won and earned 1 billion won.
It received a lot of attention by uploading a certified photo, and the prosecution immediately caught the suspicion of unfair trading in stocks of former and current employees of Ecopro, and started a search and seizure.
The author bought 3,800 shares of EcoPro at 108,200 won and made a return of 255.57%. 400 million won was invested and earned more than 1 billion won.
In particular, it bought 580 shares of Ecopro BM at 91,200 won and made a huge profit rate of 122.69%. Ecopro’s position is that it is “deviation of some employees”.
In February of last year, Ecopro apologized for the discovery of illegal activities such as the use of internal information and expressed its will to reform.
Chairman Lee Dong-chae emphasized that he would promote governance innovation centered on the board of directors and create an internal control system that strengthens compliance management by organizing the same number of inside and outside directors.
At the same time, he announced that he would take the lead in transparent and fair corporate management, but in just one year, illegal circumstances such as the use of inside information were revealed again.
Choi Yang-oh, head of the ISD Corporate Policy Research Institute, said, “Ecopro 3 brothers grew in size as their market capitalization soared along with the craze for rechargeable batteries, but insider trading by former and current executives and employees was caught last year and this year as well, and they were seized and searched.”
“EcoPro announced last year that it would strengthen internal control, but problems arose in just one year, and the moral hazard of executives and employees has reached its peak,” he criticized.
The problem is that all damages caused by the moral hazard of Ecopro executives and employees are the responsibility of general shareholders.
This is because investigations by prosecutors and financial authorities and illegal activities are discovered can have a significant impact on stock prices.
In addition, punishment for embezzlement, breach of trust, and use of inside information is light, and it takes a long time to reveal it, so all damages are seen by minority shareholders.
Experts emphasized that the CEO should be held more accountable for failing to establish an internal control system along with strict punishment for illegal acts that undermine the trust of the market.
Reporter Kim Young-taek sitory0103@infostock.co.kr
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