The National Assembly's trade and industry committee holds a national audit session at the Intellectual Property Office in the Daejeon Government Complex on Tuesday. [Yonhap]
The National Assembly's trade and industry committee holds a national audit session at the Intellectual Property Office in the Daejeon Government Complex on Tuesday. [Yonhap]

The National Assembly's Trade, Industry, SMEs and Startups Committee has re-adopted MBK Partners Chairman Kim Byung-ju as a witness for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups comprehensive audit scheduled for Oct. 23.

The committee voted to approve the additional witness and reference person summons at a plenary session held Tuesday at the Daejeon Government Complex.

Earlier, the committee had summoned Kim as a witness for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups national audit on Wednesday to question him about damage suffered by vendors stemming from the Homeplus crisis. Kim did not appear at that session, citing concerns that his testimony could affect an ongoing investigation.

The committee also re-adopted Lee Ki-seung, chairman of BS Group, as a witness for the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy comprehensive audit set for Oct. 22, in connection with allegations of preferential treatment in the "Solasido enterprise city" development project. Lee had also been summoned as a witness earlier but failed to appear, citing hospitalization.


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