Police arrest brokers of farm products

Seoul Police Agency Thursday arrested four auction brokers and middlemen of agricultural products on suspicion of profiteering a huge money by fabricating the contract price.

The auction brokers are suspected of inputting lower contract prices than the original highest bid prices in computer and embezzling about 330 million won since July 1998.

Police also booked without physical detention five other auction brokers and six middlemen who bribed auction brokers to fabricate the contract prices, a spokesman said.

The arrested includes a Soh, 40, chief of auction section of the Karak Joint Market of the National Agricultural Cooperatives Federation.

They will be charged with fraud through the use of computers and other machines and embezzlement.

They allegedly changed the contract price of one box of persimmons, 23,000 won, to 19,000 won in the course of inputting the price into computer and embezzled the difference on a day in July, 1998.

In such methods, they embezzled about 330 million won. The middlemen were suspected of buying the products at lower prices after bribing the auction brokers to fabricate the prices, the police said.

The police suspect that similar illegal practices are rampant in 13 other joint markets in Pusan, Taegu and other cities, expanding the investigation across the nation.

The police also are probing if the arrested have a dirty connection with senior members of the National Agricultural Cooperatives Federation.^