Coupang’s interim CEO Harold Rogers appeared for questioning Friday at the office of a police task force in an investigation regarding the e-commerce giant’s disclosure of findings from an internal investigation into a recent data breach without consulting the government.
Arriving at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Rogers said Coupang has fully cooperated, and will continue to fully cooperate, with all of the government investigations and will do the same with the police investigation.
But he did not respond when asked about allegations that the company downplayed the data breach and destroyed evidence.
This is the interim chief’s first appearance, after he received a third police summons, as he stands accused of obstructing the government and police investigations into the case by making a surprise announcement about the internal probe findings on December 25.
Investigators intend to press Rogers for a detailed account of the company’s claims that it contacted the former employee it blames for the breach, who is now in China, and conducted forensics on his laptop.
Coupang claimed after its internal probe that data from three-thousand accounts was compromised, although the police suspect more than 30 million accounts were affected.
Rogers could also face perjury charges after he testified in the South Korean parliament that the internal investigation was conducted upon instructions from the National Intelligence Service, a claim the state agency denied.