South Korea’s tax authorities are investigating SK Telecom (SKT) for allegedly channelling fraudulent projects worth more than KRW500 billion ($348.7 million) to its parent company’s ICT affiliate SK C&C, ChosunBiz reported.

The National Tax Service initiated a special tax probe because some orders awarded by SKT to SK C&C between 2014 and 2015 were considered to be “fabricated services or fake work orders”, the news portal stated.

The tax service’s Seoul division reportedly has been reviewing transitions between the two companies, suggesting some invoices issued by SK C&C for projects could have been inflated.

An SKT representative told ChosunBiz “there is no fact that we ordered fabricated services” from SK C&C, and it will fully support the ongoing tax investigation.

SKT is the country’s largest mobile player with nearly 32 million subscribers at end-2024.