Governor's close aides raided in campaign bribery probe

Prosecutors raided the homes and offices of two close aides to a local provincial governor on allegations they covered up evidence of an alleged bribery scandal, authorities said Tuesday. 

Hong Joon-pyo, governor of South Gyeongsang Province, is currently under suspicion of violating political funding laws by pocketing some 100 million won ($91,190.95) from Sung Wan-jong, the chairman of a construction firm who committed suicide last month.

Authorities said they confiscated financial statements and other records related to Hong's 2011 political campaign, during which he ran to become the leader of what is now the ruling Saenuri Party, from the homes and workplaces of his former secretary and another public official.

Hong is one of eight people listed on a note that the late businessman Sung left behind before his death, which prosecutors see as a list of those that received kickbacks. Former Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo and several of President Park Geun-hye's close aides were also on the list. (Yonhap)