Pocheon City Official Sent to Prosecution for 'Subway Station Site Speculation'... First Case

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghoon Jeong] A public official from Pocheon City, Mr. A, who was arrested on charges of purchasing land near a planned subway station site using insider information, was transferred to the prosecution on the 7th. This is the first case in which the Government Joint Special Investigation Headquarters (Special Investigation Headquarters), investigating allegations of speculation by employees of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) in new towns, has referred a related case to the prosecution.

The Special Investigation Headquarters announced that on the same day, Mr. A from Pocheon City Hall, who was arrested on charges of purchasing land using information obtained during work, and his wife, Mrs. B, were sent to the prosecution on charges of violating the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Act.

Mr. A was the head of the practical department responsible for the 'Okjeong~Pocheon' metropolitan railroad connection project. Having prior knowledge of the location of the new station, he purchased approximately 2,600㎡ of land and a one-story prefabricated building near the planned site of the extension of Subway Line 7 in September last year, jointly with his wife, for 4 billion KRW. The current market price is estimated to be about 10 billion KRW.

Currently, all the land and buildings purchased by Mr. A are under seizure preservation orders issued by the court, making them unavailable for voluntary disposal. The court issued a pre-arrest warrant for Mr. A on the 29th of last month.

Additionally, the Special Investigation Headquarters referred four public officials, including Mr. C and Mr. D, who, during an audit of Pocheon City Hall conducted immediately after the case was reported in the media, pre-delivered the questions of the 'audit questionnaire' to Mr. A and Mrs. B and received their written responses, then fabricated the situation as if a face-to-face investigation had been conducted, and Mr. A and Mrs. B who participated in this, on charges of falsifying official documents.

The Special Investigation Headquarters stated, "We are reviewing three other real estate transactions by Mr. A and analyzing the land sale process," and added, "We will continue to investigate allegations of tax evasion during land transactions in 2015 and 2020, clarify the facts, and refer additional cases to the prosecution."

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