SEOUL-- A Hong Kong-based music production company known to be owned by SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man refuted suspicions Wednesday that he has engaged in offshore tax avoidance through the company.
"CT Planning and Lee Soo-man have strictly observed the laws of local and related countries since the company's foundation and paid all taxes, contrary to the false accusation by some people," Kim Han-koo, CEO of the Hong Kong-based company, said in a statement.
He threatened to take legal measures against all those who spread the accusation online.
The statement came six days after Lee Sung-soo, co-CEO and nephew of Lee's late wife, claimed in a YouTube video that the SM founder established the CT Planning Limited in Hong Kong in 2019 and has taken 6 percent of SM's revenue through the company before it is divided with overseas labels.
"I bet this strange structure of going through the overseas company might be aimed at avoiding the surveillance of South Korea's National Tax Service," he said. "I wonder if it is a typical case of offshore tax evasion."
Source: Yonhap News Agency