South Korea's tax agency has barred the chief of Hyosung Group, a local family-run conglomerate, and two of the group's executives from leaving the country on suspicion of evading a massive amount of taxes, sources said Wednesday.

According to the sources, the National Tax Service (NTS), which conducted a special audit into the group in May, suspects that the group's chairman Cho Suck-rai, 79, had been evading a huge amount of taxes through holding borrowed-named properties.

Under a financial law introduced in 1993, it is illegal to use borrowed names for financial transactions.

The NTS reportedly will decide on whether to charge the group with additional taxes and report it to the prosecution before the end of this month.

One of the chairman's nephews is a son in-law of former President Lee Myung-bak.

The group, the country's 26th biggest conglomerate, has more than 11 trillion won (US$10.1 billion) in assets.

According to industry sources, two of the chairman's sons are competing to secure stakes in the group's flagship company Hyosung Corp., a textile and heavy machinery maker, in a bid to gain control of the group's management. (Yonhap news)