SK Shipping is being investigated by South Korea’s National Tax Service (NTS), although it has denied it is facing tax evasion charges.
“The tax authorities’ move appears to be part of the regular tax audit of our company,” company spokesman Hong Chang-hyo told local newspaper, The Korea Herald.
Speculation in Seoul is rife that the tanker shipping subsidiary of energy firm SK Group is facing trouble since it is NTS’s fourth division which is looking into the shipowner, a division that specialises in tax evasion and corruption among large companies.
The investigation is expected to run until the middle of May.
The news is a blow to SK Shipping as it goes about plans for a 2016 IPO.
