SEOUL, Sept 15 — YG Entertainment founder and chief producer Yang Hyun-suk has been indicted on charges of smuggling high-end wrist watches from abroad in 2014.

According to the Busan District Prosecutors' Office, the 54-year-old allegedly received two wrist watches "that cost hundreds of millions of won” as gifts in Singapore and brought it back to Korea without reporting it to the customs service.

Busan Customs Service had found that the watch manufacturer had imported numerous watches without declaring the products to customs service.

Yang's case was investigated as part of the tax evasion cases involving the said manufacturer, reported Korea JoongAng Daily.

Investigations were reportedly slowed down because the CEO of the watch manufacturer was abroad.

YG Entertainment denied allegations on Friday, arguing that the wrist watches were provided to Yang for promotional purposes and that Yang wore them on television in return.

"We are deeply regretful about the prosecutors' hasty decision to make the indictment just ahead of the 10-year statute of limitations is about to run out,” said YG in a statement.

"Yang had faithfully participated in investigations in 2017 and voluntarily handed in the wrist watches to investigators in order not to get involved in even the smallest issues as a well-known figure.”

Previously, Yang was found guilty of coercing an informant to withdraw a testimony against one of his former artists in an appeals court last November and was sentenced to six months in prison which was suspended for a year.

The Seoul High Court had ruled that Yang abused his position to force an informant into meeting him.