SEOUL, Police on Tuesday raided former Taekwang Group Chairman Lee Ho-jin’s residence and company properties over allegations against him of embezzlement and breach of trust.

Investigators from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency searched Lee’s home, a Taekwang-owned office in downtown Seoul and Taekwang Country Club in Yongin, south of Seoul, in the morning to secure possible evidence related to his suspected wrongdoing.

Lee is reportedly suspected of having created slush funds worth over 2 billion won (US$1.5 million) through affiliates of the textile-to-media conglomerate.

Lee had formerly served a three-year prison term for embezzlement, breach of trust and tax evasion before being released in October 2021.

The police probe came only about two months after he was granted a special presidential pardon and a reinstatement of his right to conduct business activities on the occasion of the Aug. 15 Liberation Day anniversary that commemorates the end of Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

Source: Yonhap News Agency