A former chief of the national tax agency will be summoned this week over suspicions that he took bribes from CJ Group in return for providing favors during a tax audit into the local food and entertainment conglomerate in 2006, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Jeon Goon-pyo, who headed the National Tax Service (NTS) from July 2006 to November 2007, has been notified to show up for questioning at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in southern Seoul on Thursday morning, they said.
Jeon is under suspicion of taking US$300,000 in U.S. bills and high-end watches from CJ Group in July 2006 just after he had been named the tax agency's head.
After indicting CJ Group chairman Lee Jay-hyun of embezzlement and offshore tax evasion charges in a separate corruption case earlier this month, prosecutors have expanded their probe into the conglomerate's alleged illegal lobbying for tax breaks.
The NTS in 2006 neither collected nor levied any fines on the family-run conglomerate, though tax authorities obtained evidence that the group and Lee dodged some 356 billion won ($319 million) in corporate and income taxes, according to the prosecution.
The prosecution office suspects that CJ Group officials illegally lobbied the former tax officials so that the conglomerate could reduce its tax burden or even avoid paying the massive amount of taxes altogether.
CJ Group officials alleged that they gave $300,000 in U.S. bills and high-end watches to Heo Byung-ik, the NTS deputy commissioner at the time, asking him to relay them to Jeon.
Heo, who was arrested pending trial on Saturday, admitted to taking the money but claimed that he had handed over the gifts and the money to Jeon, according to prosecutors.
The prosecution office said it is weighing the possibility that Heo kept the kickbacks for himself but is not ruling out other possibilities as well.
Accusations have also risen that Jeon, who is banned from traveling while the probe is ongoing, received expensive watches at a Seoul hotel as an inauguration gift from chairman Lee. (Yonhap News)
