Police raid office of Samsung family residences over suspected illicit payments

Police said Monday they raided a management office for central Seoul residences of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee and his relatives over the suspected transfer of corporate money to their remodeling expenses.

A special investigation team from the National Police Agency searched the management office located close to the residences of South Korea's biggest family-run conglomerate in Hannam-dong earlier in the day.

Police investigators reportedly searched for documents relating to the allegations that Samsung Group paid a house interior firm from accounts created under borrowed names without issuing tax receipts from October 2008 to March 2015.

Police suspect that Samsung officials were dispatched to the management office and if it is found to be true, they could possibly face charges of embezzlement and violation of law on punishing tax criminals, they added.

They said they plan to call in company officials for questioning once they finish analyzing the confiscated evidence.

They said the raid came after they found financial irregularities in a housing interior company in a separate probe. Early last month, police raided the headquarters of Korean Air Line Co. over alleged misappropriation of company funds spent for renovating the house of its chairman Cho Yang-ho. (Yonhap)