Prosecutors raided the residence of a former chief of a major banking firm on Tuesday, as part of a probe into bribery allegations involving a former lawmaker in connection with a high-profile land development corruption scandal.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office said its officials searched the home of Kim Jung-tai, former chairman of Hana Financial Group, to confiscate evidence.
Kim is suspected of doing a former ruling party lawmaker, Kwak Sang-do, a favor and pulling the strings to help a little-known asset management firm form a consortium with KEB-Hana Bank to win a big apartment complex development project in Daejang-dong district in Seongnam, just south of Seoul.
Kim headed Hana Financial Group, which has KEB-Hana Bank under its wing, in 2012 and 2015, and 2018-2022.
Prosecutors are investigating the Daejang-dong development case for the appeals trial, after Kwak was acquitted in February of bribery charges that he took 5 billion won (US$3.7 million) from 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.
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.
Source: Yonhap News Agency