South Korea’s financial regulator refers a prominent opposition party lawmaker to local prosecutors for allegedly engaging in controversial crypto transactions, causing public outrage over potential conflicts of interest.
South Korean lawmaker Rep. Kim Nam-kuk from the Democratic Party is reportedly under investigation for withdrawing 800,000 WEMIX tokens worth $4.5 million from late February to early March 2022, which has raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest. The Financial Services Commission’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has been notified of the transactions.
A South Korean lawmaker’s alleged crypto transactions have come under scrutiny after the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) reported them as suspicious to the prosecutor’s office. The transactions were made just before the country implemented the FATF’s travel rule, which requires exchanges to report personal data on transactions exceeding a certain threshold.
Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Nam-kuk denied any wrongdoing and claimed to have followed the law, despite the suspicious transactions, as there is currently no mandatory reporting requirement for cryptocurrencies under South Korea’s Public Service Ethics Act.
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Last year, WEMIX was delisted from major exchanges in South Korea over allegations of inaccurate circulation supply figures. WeMade, the issuing company, challenged the delisting in court but was unsuccessful.
South Korea has postponed plans to tax income from crypto and the transfer or lending of virtual assets until 2025.
