The nominee for South Korea’s top antitrust regulator is suspected of evading taxes by not reporting his income accurately, sources said.

Noh Dae-lae, a former senior finance ministry official and chief of the country’s arms procurement agency, was nominated to lead the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) on Saturday.

He is the second nominee for the post following Han Man-soo, who stepped down earlier last week amid allegations that he has been holding secret overseas bank accounts to evade taxes. Noh awaits a confirmation hearing.

Noh is suspected of not reporting about 250 million won ($223,600) that he claims to have got back after lending it to one of his relatives.

The existence of the money was detected as Noh tried to clarify how he financed the purchase of an apartment in 2008. At the time, he sold his 1.13 billion won home and moved to a 1.58 billion won apartment.

To finance the home purchase, Noh said that he used the money raised from selling a property held by his mother. In 2002, the money was lent to one of his relatives, who paid it back to him in 2008, Noh explained.

“Since I thought that I just reclaimed my property right to the money, I did not think about the tax matter,” Noh said. “I am now checking with tax authorities and will pay due taxes if I have to,” he added. (Yonhap News)