The nominee to be the inaugural chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials(CIO) denied allegations of insider trading raised by the main opposition People Power Party(PPP).

A team preparing Kim Jin-wook's confirmation hearing released a statement Wednesday saying the nominee will explain the details during his upcoming parliamentary hearing.

The PPP earlier raised allegations that Kim purchased shares of MiCo Biomed, a firm that manufactures COVID-19 test kits, based on knowledge of undisclosed data and gained profit in the process.

In March 2017, Kim initially bought stocks in Nanobiosys Inc. whose president was one of his fellow alumni from Harvard University. That company then merged with MiCo Biomed in August that year. 

The nominee insists it was an ordinary stock transaction and he knew nothing about the merger beforehand. Rather at the time of purchase, Kim claimed Nanobiosys shares had plunged in value after withdrawing its application for KOSDAQ listing.

He also refuted the claim that he gained a profit, saying he did not sell off the stock holdings.