Pastor David Yonggi Cho has declared war against President Lee Myung-bak over the administration’s backing of a bill that will provide a tax exemption for the local issuers of Islamic sukuk bonds.
Sukuk bonds conform to an Islamic law that bans interest payments and instead offers bondholders dividends or leasing profits as compensation. The pending legislation would have offered tax concessions to Korean corporate issuers of sukuk bonds in order to tap funds from oil-rich Middle Eastern countries.