Prosecutors raided nearly a dozen locations, including the headquarters of a construction firm, on Tuesday as part of their investigation into allegations that a former lawmaker and his son received a large amount of bribes from a land developer at the center of a high-profile development corruption scandal.
In February, Kwak Sang-do was acquitted of charges that he took 5 billion won (US$3.8 million) from the small asset management firm Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management under the pretext of severance pay and incentives for his son, who worked at the firm. Prosecutors put the actual amount of bribery at 2.5 billion won after deducting taxes and the son's actual severance pay.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office, which is probing the case for the appeals trial, raided the offices of Hoban Construction Ltd. and Bookook Securities, as well as other sites.
Prosecutors suspect that Kwak helped the firm form a consortium with KEB-Hana Bank for the project. The firm later reaped astronomical profits from the project to develop the Daejang-dong district in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, into an apartment complex.
Kwak's son was also booked for graft charges, as the prosecution office suspects that the severance pay was actually pocketed by both of them.
In its first ruling since the massive scandal surfaced, the Seoul Central District Court delivered a not-guilty verdict for Kwak, stating that 5 billion won cannot be viewed as a bribe.
The court acknowledged that the money was exceptionally large under social norms, but it has not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that it was provided in return for favors.
Source: Yonhap News Agency