By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter

Prosecutors on Friday searched the offices of Lotte Group headquarters and its construction arm in Seoul, in the latest in a series of raids on conglomerates accused of making illegal donations to political parties during the presidential election last December.

The Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office said a team of 10 prosecutors and investigators were dispatched to each of the offices and seized financial documents.

A full review of the documents is under way to confirm allegations that the group raised slush funds by falsifying accounting records of Lotte Engineering & Construction and several other affiliates, prosecutors said.

Investigators have raided key departments at LG, Hyundai, Kumho, Samsung and several other business groups amid allegations that they committed accounting fraud to illegally fund election campaigns last year.

Prosecutors said they brought in Lotte Engineering & Construction CEO Lim Seung-nam and Lotte’s management headquarters president Kim Byung-il for questioning. Lotte Group vice-chairman Shin Dong-bin will also be summoned soon, they said.

The raid is part of the prosecution’s efforts to gather evidence that the nation’s largest business groups chipped in for presidential campaigns by the two major political parties.

The prosecution said it plans to summon Reps. Choi Don-woong and Kim Young-eil of the Grand National Party and Reps. Lee Sang-soo and Chyung Dai-chul of the Uri Party for questioning next week. They played key roles in managing corporate donations in the campaign teams of the opposition and ruling parties during the presidential election. Lee and Chyung moved from the Millennium Democratic Party to the pro-government Uri Party about one month ago.


jj@koreatimes.co.kr