Prime Minister Jeong: "LH Scandal, 500 Prosecutors Deployed... Thorough Crackdown on Speculative Offenders" (Update)

7th Fair Society Anti-Corruption Policy Council Briefing

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun is greeting after finishing the briefing on the results of the Anti-Corruption Policy Council at the government Seoul office briefing room on the 29th. Attending the briefing were Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki, Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye, Minister of the Interior and Safety Jeon Hae-cheol, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Byun Chang-heum, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Kim Hyun-soo, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission Eun Sung-soo, Chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Jeon Hyun-hee, and Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination Koo Yun-cheol. 2021.3.29 [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Sunhee] Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun announced on the 29th regarding the allegations of land speculation by employees of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), "We will drastically expand the investigation personnel to more than 2,000 people to thoroughly root out real estate speculation criminals nationwide." He continued, "The 'Government Joint Special Investigation Headquarters (Special Investigation Unit)' formed within the police will be doubled in size to reorganize into more than 1,500 personnel, and dedicated investigation teams for real estate speculation criminals will be formed in 43 prosecution offices, deploying more than 500 prosecutors and investigators."

After the 7th Fair Society Anti-Corruption Policy Council chaired by President Moon Jae-in in the afternoon, Prime Minister Chung held a briefing at the Government Seoul Office and stated, "We will mobilize all capabilities of related agencies such as the police, prosecution, National Tax Service, and Financial Services Commission to establish a government-wide full-scale response system to thoroughly detect and severely punish the illegal acts that have occurred." He also said, "Public officials involved in speculation corruption will be arrested and investigated as a principle, and the maximum sentence will be sought in court," adding, "All criminal proceeds obtained by them will be fully confiscated and recovered through seizure and collection."

This is the first time the government has expressed the prosecution's intention to directly investigate in relation to the current LH incident. The six major crimes subject to prosecution investigation as specified in the Prosecutors' Office Act are ▲corruption crimes ▲economic crimes ▲public official crimes ▲election crimes ▲defense business crimes ▲major disasters. Until now, the government has drawn a line regarding the possibility of direct prosecution investigation, stating that the current LH incident falls under 'livelihood crimes' related to real estate.

However, Prime Minister Chung, with the premise of "within the scope permitted by law," said, "Cases referred related to real estate corruption and six major serious crimes collected through prosecution's own intelligence will be directly investigated," and added, "Existing real estate corruption cases will also be reexamined and directly investigated if suspicion is found."

Furthermore, a 'Special Real Estate Tax Evasion Investigation Team' will be established within the National Tax Service, and the Financial Services Commission will form a 'Special Financial Countermeasure Team for Speculation.' Prime Minister Chung said, "We will fundamentally block the inflow of illegal funds into the real estate market," and "If illegal real estate loan suspicions are found, investigations will be requested, and information on funds related to speculators will be provided to the police and National Tax Service."

Prime Minister Chung also stated, "We will mandate asset registration for all public officials and strictly restrict public officials involved in real estate-related duties from acquiring new real estate in their work-related areas," adding, "We will promptly launch the Real Estate Transaction Analysis Institute to regularly inspect real estate transactions and establish a dedicated real estate speculation investigation department within the National Police Agency to continuously detect illegal speculation activities." He emphasized, "Unfair profits gained from real estate speculation will be recovered up to five times, and farmland for speculative purposes will be forcibly disposed of."

Prime Minister Chung said, "Taking this LH incident as an opportunity, we will eradicate real estate corruption that shakes the foundation of fairness and justice, restore public service discipline, and make this a new turning point and a chance for a turnaround toward a better society."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.