An independent journalists' group in South Korea on Wednesday exposed a list of high-profile Korean businessmen and their families suspected of running slush funds in tax havens, in what could cause a huge social ripple amid a slew of ongoing probes into secretive money owned by the rich.

The Korea Center for Investigative Journalism (KCIJ), a non-profit organization set up by former journalists, disclosed three names of heads of family-owned conglomerates, known here as chaebol, who allegedly have stashed secretive money through a paper company account in the British Virgin Islands and the Cook Islands.

"We're first releasing the names of those that have considerable economic clout so that the disclosure will be in accord with the public interest," Kim Yong-jin, the KCIJ chief director, told reporters at a press briefing held in Seoul.

The findings are based on a joint investigative journalism project by the KCIJ and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), in which the KCIJ has taken part since last month.

According to its preliminary investigation, there are 245 Koreans who have set up a bogus company in the tax haven regions and are suspected of having at least one slush fund account. Some of them have fake financial accounts under false names to avoid being caught by the authorities.

The three names released on Wednesday were Lee Soo-young, the owner of polysilicon-making giant OCI Co. and his wife; Lee Young-hak, the wife of former vice president of Korean Air Lines Co.; and relatives of the 25th-largest conglomerate Hyosung Group.

The research is based on an internal database consisting of information on 130,000 clients and over 122,000 paper companies obtained from two agencies that set up paper companies by proxy.

The KCIJ said it will announce another list of tax evaders' names in the following press conference next Monday. (Yonhap News)