Prosecution expands probe of lawmakers, vocational schools

The prosecution is set to conduct another round of investigations into allegations that some lawmakers may have had irregular connections with several vocational schools.

In addition to their ongoing scrutiny into three opposition lawmakers and Seoul Arts College, investigators raided the headquarters of Seoul Hyundai Technical College and its principal Kim Nam-kyung’s residence last Friday.

The prosecution, which secured computer hard disks and bookkeeping records, plans to look into whether the vocational schools had accumulated slush funds.

There are speculations that SHTC executives, including Kim, stashed away school funds worth some 1 billion won ($9.6 million), said investigators. A prosecutor said the raid was aimed at verifying the allegations of management irregularities.

But he added that the investigative authority has yet to secure evidence to back up the alleged lobbying of politicians or senior civil servants.

The prosecution is focusing on the personal history of principal Kim, who ran for National Assembly elections in 1996 and 2000 and applied to be nominated as a candidate with the then-ruling Grand National Party in 2004 and 2008.

Earlier, the prosecution alleged that three main opposition lawmakers had taken kickbacks from Seoul Arts College in return for omitting the term “vocational” from the Korean name of the school.

However, in August the Seoul Central District Court rejected the prosecution’s proposal to issue arrest warrants for two of three New Politics Alliance for Democracy lawmakers.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)