The prosecution has imposed overseas travel bans on 40 people including former President Chun Doo-hwan, his relatives and associates who allegedly helped him conceal his assets, officials said on Thursday.

Investigators also said they were considering requesting authorities in the United States, Singapore and the British Virgin Islands for judicial cooperation. The former president and his family are suspected of hiding massive assets overseas under borrowed names and by other illegal means such as money laundering.

The prosecution is zeroing in on Chun’s eldest son Jae-kook and his suspicious financial assets at a Singapore branch of Arab Bank. The junior Chun is suspected of laundering his father’s slush funds through the account opened under the name of a paper company he established in the British Virgin Islands.

According to sources, Chun Jae-kook deposited more than $1 million in the account and withdrew some of the money several times. He is known to have visited the bank once a year and managed his financial assets himself. 

By Cho Chung-un
(christory@heraldcorp.com)