Seoul: A local court will decide whether to formally arrest a businessman as early as Saturday in a special counsel’s probe into a stock price manipulation scheme possibly involving former first lady Kim Keon Hee, according to sources. The Seoul Central District Court was set to review the arrest warrant against Yang Nam-hee, chairman of Well Biotec, on charges of stock manipulation, the sources said.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the review came after special counsel Min Joong-ki’s team applied for Yang’s formal arrest on Friday. Well Biotec has been linked to Sambu Construction, a mid-sized builder suspected of deceiving investors into thinking it would take part in reconstruction projects in Ukraine in order to raise its share price. This occurred before a dozen former and current company owners and executives sold their shares to pocket profits worth tens of billions of won (tens of millions of U.S. dollars).

Sambu Construction’s stock price saw a significant increase around the time Kim and her husband, then President Yoon Suk Yeol, visited Ukraine in July 2023. The special counsel is currently seeking to trace evidence to the link between the former first lady and stock manipulation at the two companies.