Prosecutors Request Supplementary Investigation from Police in 'Box Office Manipulation' Case

Police "Will Review and Refile the Case"

The prosecution, which took over the box office ranking manipulation case involving three domestic film companies, has requested supplementary investigations from the police.

According to the prosecution on the 5th, the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office received the case from the police on the 14th of last month and returned it on the 16th, requesting additional investigations.

The content of the text and the image are unrelated. [Photo by Yonhap News]

Earlier, the Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency had sent 69 officials from three theaters?CGV, Lotte Cinema, and Megabox?and 24 distribution companies including Showbox to the prosecution without detention on charges of obstruction of business.

According to the police, from March 2018 to June of this year, they are suspected of obstructing the integrated computer network operation of the Korea Film Council, which manages box office operations, by inputting false ticketing information to make it appear that all seats were sold out for 323 films during specific time slots to artificially boost box office rankings. The number of false ticketings amounts to 2.67 million.

A representative from the Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency stated, "This is to supplement the list of investigation targets." The police plan to review and resend the case after further examination.

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