The country’s prosecution has launched an investigation into allegations that Hanmi Pharmaceutical took part in a scheme to manipulate stock prices to reap illegal profit, sources said on Monday.

Related departments of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office said they searched the offices of local brokerages including Korea Investment & Securities.

A worker at Hanmi allegedly plotted with a brokerage employee to inflate the prices of the pharmaceutical firm’s listed stocks. 

The scheme came to light when Hanmi’s share price began to soar shortly before the company announced plans to commercialize new drugs for treating immune disorders.

The jump triggered suspicions that the Hanmi employees had leaked insider information to the brokerage employee. The employee reportedly shared the information with several fund managers who bought Hanmi stocks ahead of the announcement.

The Financial Services Commission investigated the suspicions and later referred workers at both Hanmi and the brokerage to the prosecution.

(jemmie@heraldcorp.com)