LH employees suspected of founding company to speculate in property: task force

A government task force said Monday it is looking into allegations employees of the state housing developer, Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH), founded a company to handle speculative property transactions.

Nam Gu-jun, the task force chief, told reporters that "several dozen" people, including LH employees, their relatives and acquaintances, are suspected of taking part in the scheme.

"We've confirmed that a large amount of land was purchased using insider information, and we are trying to determine the people involved," Nam said.

The task force chief, who is also head of the police national investigation office, said a separate investigation is under way into allegations that current and former LH employees colluded with realtors to speculate in redevelopment areas in Seongnam, just south of Seoul.

Both cases have been assigned to the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency.

LH has been at the center of a massive land speculation scandal that broke in March after civic groups accused some of its employees of using insider information to buy plots of land before they were publicly designated for redevelopment.

The task force was launched shortly after to investigate all cases of property speculation in the public sector. (Yonhap)