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The team of special counsel Cho Joon-woong raided eight offices and homes of top Samsung executives, including chairman Lee Kun-hee's office in Itaewon-dong, Yongsan, Seoul. The team, which is investigating a massive corruption scandal centered on Korea¡¯s biggest conglomerate, also swooped on vice chairman Lee Hak-soo's apartment in Dogok-dong, Gangnam, Seoul, president of the restructuring office Kim In-ju's home in Dogok-dong, Seoul and his villa in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, and vice president Choi Kwang-hae's home in Dogok-dong.
The raids took from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. Yoon Jeong-seok, an assistant prosecutor for the counsel's team, said, "We're analyzing the data and materials we've confiscated. But it's too early to talk about the result." From Lee Kun-hee's office, the team confiscated three portfolio envelopes and copied computer files and folders to CD. Lee Hak-soo and Kim In-ju are suspected of being involved in the group's creation of huge slush funds and underhand attempts to transfer the group ownership to Lee Kun-hee¡¯s son. Choi Kwang-hae is suspected of raising and managing the slush funds under the borrowed names of executives and employees in the group's restructuring office.
Monday's raid came some 40 days after a special prosecutorial investigation team raided the head office of Samsung Securities on Nov. 30 last year in connection with the scandal but was the first of the group chairman's office and vice chairman's home.
Attorney Kim Yong-chul, the whistle-blower in the scandal, reported to the special counsel's office for questioning the same day. He reportedly submitted a memo claiming Hong Song-won, the president of Seomi Gallery, played a key role in purchasing artworks for Lee and his family -- one purpose for which the slush funds were allegedly used. The memo records information Kim heard from Hong's attorney in 2004, when Hong was under investigation on charges of violating the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act after purchasing artworks in a foreign country. The memo claims Hong purchased two works, including "The Mountain" by Ed Ruscha, for W3 billion (US$1=W938).
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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