KB Financial Group decided to deposition its deputy president and chief strategy officer Park Dong-chang, a close aide to chairman Euh Yoon-dae, for spreading groundless information to shareholders, the company said Monday.

Park came under hot water as he is suspected of leaking “false” insider information to a U.S.-based proxy advisory firm, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. and shareholders.

Park allegedly told ISS that three of KB’s outside directors ― and former high-ranking state officials ― should not be reappointed, since they played a leading part in the nullification of an ING Life Insurance takeover.

After the takeover plan was aborted last December, the insurance firm’s stock price plunged.

Afterwards, ISS questioned the independence and impartiality of the decisions by KB’s board of directors.

“He confessed to having contact (with shareholders) so we took away his official title as an initial step,” the group’s spokesman said.

“This is totally unprecedented, and it is hard to fathom the severity of punishment. But the mere act of contacting and mentioning unapproved things becomes a problem in this case,” he said. The spokesman also stressed that chairman Euh has nothing to do with Park’s wrongdoing.

KB Financial Group’s board of directors agreed on Park’s deprivation in an extraordinary meeting that was held earlier in the day, the group said.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)