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| ▲ This photo, provided by SM Entertainment, shows Lee Sung-soo, CEO of SM Entertainment. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Feb. 16 (Yonhap) - Lee Sung-soo, the current CEO of SM, who was cornered by HYBE's sudden acquisition of a stake in former SM executive producer Lee Soo-man, has launched a counterattack.
In a YouTube video released on the morning of Wednesdy, CEO Lee, nephew of former SM executive producer Lee Soo-man’s wife, has criticized Lee Soo-man on 14 items, including his alleged offshore tax evasion.
“Lee Soo-man has established a company called 'CT Planning Limited' in Hong Kong with a capital of $1 million in 2019,” he said. "This CTP is a 100% private company of Lee Soo-man.”
"Lee Soo-man has deformed the structure by making the contract go through overseas label companies and CTP even though it is same with the existing production system,” he explained, adding "Lee Soo-man is getting 6% before settlement between SM and overseas label companies." "The contract between SM and Like Planning was not properly recognized by the Korea National Tax Service in 2014 and 2021. As a result, SM had to pay billions or tens of billions of won in taxes, he said. "Isn't this strange structure that goes through overseas to avoid the surveillance network of the Korean National Tax Service?” he claimed.
CEO Lee has raised suspicions by saying, "I wonder if it is a typical offshore tax evasion that allows profits to be attributed to Hong Kong's CTP through a transaction structure that does not fit the substance.”
CEO Lee added, "The previous contract between CTP and overseas label companies is still alive and will continue to be maintained regardless of the production contract between 'SM-Like Planning', which ended at the end of last year."
In addition, CEO Lee claimed that Lee Soo-man made a statement early this year that ▲ announcing statements from artists saying they need Lee Soo-man ▲ signing a contract with CTP, about overseas-produced album, ▲ demanding a plan to delay the release of the album beyond April.
He has also revealed that Lee Soo-man's interest in tree planting has pushed back the comeback of girl group aespa.
CEO Lee said, "aespa’s new album was scheduled to be released around February 20th. However Lee Soo-man instructed the A&R team and director Yoo Young-jin to project tree planting, sustainability, and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) in lyrics of all major songs that will be released at SM."
He then said, "Lee Soo-man ordered aespa to sing a song with tree planting projections that did not suit with the group’s image," adding, "Some of the lyrics included words such as “Just Sustainability”, “bringing down the temperature even by a degree”, “co-habitation, and “Greenism”, and in the draft version of the lyrics, the direct expression “tree planting” appeared and the members were upset."
CEO Lee explained, however, that he asked to exclude the word "tree planting". He then mentioned that he decided to cancel the release of the song for aespa because content that "no one can relate to" came out with such unreasonable instructions.
"There is Lee Soo-man's desire for real estate business rights behind the message of tree planting, sustainability, ESG, new market development and cultural exchange," CEO Lee said. "In fact, some countries requested ownership of the site, but it was only possible with a license."
CEO Lee said, "Now, we SM will start everything from scratch," and added, "That's 'SM 3.0'." "Please listen to our SM music again," he said.
Former executive producer Lee Soo-man has yet to respond to the video.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Yunhee Cho.)
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