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Prosecutors on Thursday raided the home and lab of disgraced cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk together with those of 10 others involved in the stem cell scandal. Their probe focuses on an allegation from Hwang that someone switched patient-specific stem cells he claims to have made, leading to the finding by a Seoul National University panel that there is no evidence they ever existed.
Prosecution investigators also searched the homes and offices of Roh Sung-il, the head of the MizMedi fertility clinic that worked with Hwang, and leading members of Hwang¡¯s team Kwon Dae-gil, Prof. Ahn Cu-rie of SNU, Prof. Yoon Hyun-soo of Hanyang University, and the home of former junior researcher Kim Seon-jong. Most of these key witnesses are under an overseas travel ban.
After securing search warrants early this morning, some 60 prosecution officials swarmed out to secure research data, computer files and equipment. The prosecution also won access to 19 Internet portals to obtain e-mails those involved in the scandal sent to each other.
The raid comes in response to charges that members of Hwang's team attempted to destroy evidence by wiping the hard disks of computers at the lab, a prosecutor said.
Investigators confronted Hwang at his home at around 9 a.m. while he was preparing for a press conference where he was to apologize for faking his stem cell research. The scientist was visibly displeased when reporters along with investigators crowded his home. During the hour-long search, investigators seized Hwang¡¯s laptop, which he intended to take with him to the press conference, along with files, notebooks and desktop computers.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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