The Ministry of Government Legislation has decided that Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee should be fined for his accounts under borrowed names.

The ministry on Monday presented the statutory interpretation in response to the Financial Services Commission's(FSC) inquiry asking whether it could levy a fine against Lee.

Lee has been criticized for allegedly withdrawing four-point-four trillion won from accounts under borrowed names without paying taxes or a fine. This would violate a law that bans financial transactions with borrowed-name accounts. 

The FSC intends to accept the ministry's statutory interpretation, but slapping a fine on Lee is likely to be difficult because financial institutions usually destroy records older than ten years and do not hold the records of Lee's accounts from August 1993.

The real-name account system introduced in August 1993 bans people from running accounts under borrowed names.

Authorities can levy taxes on 90 percent of interest and dividend income earned from non real-name assets.