Prosecutors raided South Korea’s main stock exchange on March 15 as part of a probe into alleged accounting fraud by Samsung BioLogics.

Investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office were sent to search the Korea Exchange in western Seoul.
 

They also raided the offices of two Samsung units -- Samsung S&T and Samsung SDS -- in the probe into the biopharmaceutical company.

Prosecutors are investigating allegations that Samsung BioLogics broke accounting rules in inflating the value of its subsidiary, Samsung Bioepis, ahead of BioLogics’ 2016 initial public offering.

The prosecution suspects the KRX eased the IPO rules at that time to make BioLogics eligible for listing on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market.

The Financial Services Commission judged in its own inquiry that the alleged fraudulent accounting possibly amounts to 4.5 trillion won ($3.96 billion).

Civic groups claimed the alleged fraud was aimed at enhancing heir apparent Lee Jae-yong’s control of Samsung Group.

By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)