Prosecutors on Thursday raided a former special counsel’s home and office over corruption allegations surrounding a controversial land development scandal in Seongnam, just south of Seoul.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office sent prosecutors and investigators to the homes and offices of former special counsel Park Young-soo and his former assistant Yang Jae-sik to secure documents on their suspected bribery.
Park and Yang investigated a corruption scandal involving former President Park Geun-hye in 2017.
The former special counsel is suspected of agreeing to accept 5 billion won (US$3.83 million) from private developers in return for helping their project to develop Seongnam’s Daejang-dong district into apartment complexes in 2014, when he served as the chair of the Woori Bank board of directors.
Yang is also suspected of being involved in assisting the private developers.
The so-called Daejang-dong scandal, in which Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management and a small number of private partners were allowed to reap astronomical investment profits, has drawn keen media attention because the project was launched when opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was mayor of Seongnam.
Kim Man-bae, the owner of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, was indicted on March 8 on charges of stashing 39 billion won of illegal proceeds from the Daejang-dong project.
Former special counsel Park’s daughter reportedly received 1.1 billion won from Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management after working for the company from September 2019 to February 2021. In addition, she is suspected of having earned a profit of some 800 million won through the purchase and sale of a Daejang-dong apartment.
Source: Yonhap News Agency