PPP reviews discipline against lawmakers involved in suspicious property deals

The main opposition People Power Party held a meeting Tuesday to decide on disciplinary measures against its lawmakers allegedly connected to suspected illegal real estate dealings one day after the state anti-corruption watchdog announced the results of a probe into opposition lawmakers' past deals.

On Monday, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) said it has identified 13 alleged speculation cases linked to 12 incumbent PPP legislators. The ACRC has delivered its findings to party leaders and a police-led special government investigation team.

According to party sources familiar with the information, the 12 lawmakers are Kang Gi-yun, Kim Seung-su, Park Dae-soo, Bae June-young, Song Seog-jun, An Byung-gil, Yoon Hee-suk, Lee Joo-hwan, Lee Chul-gyu, Jung Chan-min, Choi Chun-sik and Han Moo-kyung.

Rep. Song is reportedly under suspicion for allegedly violating building laws while renovating his mother's retirement home, and Rep. Ahn is under suspicion of having registered his property under his brother-in-law's name.

Rep. Yoon, a PPP presidential hopeful, was reportedly identified due to a questionable past dealing by a family member.

The lawmakers under suspicion made their cases in the party's emergency supreme council meeting Tuesday.

"We will come to a decision after confirming the facts as much as possible as there are unclear aspects in the information forwarded from the ACRC," PPP Chairman Lee Jun-seok said.

The ACRC said Monday probes into four other minor parties -- the Justice Party, the People's Party, the Basic Income Party and Transition Korea -- did not yield any suspicious cases.

The watchdog said it has looked into past land transactions of a total of 507 people, comprising the lawmakers of six opposition parties and their families. It did not disclose the identities of the lawmakers under suspicion.

The latest probe followed a similar one conducted on members of the DP, in which 12 lawmakers were alleged to have been involved in questionable dealings in the past.

The agency's probe was the latest in a series of government measures that were presented in the wake of a large land speculation scandal involving employees of the state-run Korea Land & Housing Corp. (LH) that shook the nation in March.

In June, the police-led probe reported over 500 suspected public sector land speculation cases to the prosecution for further investigations. (Yonhap)