South Korea is booming, yet its telecoms world is frequently accused of being less than wholesome. The latest scandal revolves around KTF (Korea Telecom Freetel) with 12 million subs, but a CEO (pictured) who is in the slammer.

KTF president Cho Young-ju was detained at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office after investigators confiscated contracts and computer hard disks from the company's headquarters. Cho and several other senior KTF executives are accused of taking kickbacks from suppliers over the past four years, a police allegation stated.

Investigators said they found evidence that Cho opened bank accounts under assorted names, including his son’s, to accept the kick-backs, which also might have been sent to politicians as bribes, it said.

The amount alleged to have been siphoned off is Won2.5 billion($2.2m). 

KTF is 53% owned by Korea Telecom. KTF itself is working with PT Mobile-8 of Indonesia, and has a major contract with Reliance in India, as well as holding a 25% stake in CEC Mobile of China. NTT DoCoMo of Japan is a 10% shareholder in KTF.

Source:rapidtvnews