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| Late Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee, center, with his family members at the Consumer Electronics show held in Las Vegas in 2010. Courtesy of Samsung Group |
By Kim Bo-eun
The widow and children of late Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee took out massive loans to pay the first portion of a 12 trillion won ($10.8 billion) inheritance tax, according to industry sources and media reports, Friday.
The family plans to pay the tax in six installments over the next five years, the first of which is due April 30.
The sources said that the Samsung heirs have borrowed a total of 400 billion won from two local banks ― Woori Bank and NongHyup Bank ― for the first payment. Both lenders declined to comment on the matter.
Each of the lenders extended 200 billion won in loans via a special review body, according to sources. The loans are known to have been issued using Samsung affiliate stocks owned by the family members as collateral.
Loans exceeding a certain level are handled by a special body at the head office of lenders. Such loans are not subject to banks' internal rules for general loans, and their interest rate and loan amounts are determined by the repayment capabilities of borrowers.
A bank official said, "All lenders have a special review team to process loans for nonstandard cases. The body reviews loans for both individual and corporate clients."
Regarding the reports, a Samsung spokesman said, "The payment of the inheritance tax is carried out by the individuals, and Samsung as a company is not involved in the matter. We do not know of how funds were secured to pay the tax."
News of the Samsung family members being granted such massive loans via the review body has raised eyebrows here, since such loans would not be possible for the majority of the public.
"There were rumors that major lenders rushed to issue loans to the Samsung family given this would be a huge business opportunity," an official with the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice said.
"The Financial Services Commission will need to determine whether there were any favors granted to the family members in the process of issuing the loans."
Financial authorities will likely be called into question as they have been seeking to reduce the scale of loans that can be extended to individuals to tame soaring household debt.
"It appears the Samsung family received preferential treatment in borrowing money, since such loans would not be issued under usual circumstances," an official at the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy said.
"This contrasts with the circumstances of the general public, who are not able to borrow more than 100 million won at a time of soaring household debt."
Yet there are also views that the granted loans should not be considered as favorable treatment when considering the scale of income the Lee family members receive in dividends from Samsung stocks. The family members received a dividend income of 1.4 trillion won last year.
