Police Officer Suspected of Receiving Money from Goodmorning City CEO

The Seoul District Prosecutor`s Office, which has been investigating into the Goodmorning City bribery scandal, is known to have been looking into the impropriety of a police officer sent to the office, who allegedly received a large sum of money from Yoon Chang-yeol, president of the company, to go easy on the investigation.

Yoon was under the investigation by the prosecution at the time on charges of embezzlement.

The police officer was reportedly involved in another bribery case in the Changwon District Prosecutor`s Office and disappeared shortly after the investigation into the case kicked off in the middle of last month.

The prosecution also arrested a lobbyist suspected of having illegally intervened in the course of Yoon`s taking over Hanyang, before seeking a warrant for arrest Sunday.

Prosecutors also arrested a prosecution official who took 12 million won in return for leaking information on the investigation to Yoon from December last year to March this year, who was on the run.

They are poised to probe into Rep. Chyung Dai-chul, chairman of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party, when he appears at the prosecutor`s office on August 4 or 5, on charges of receiving 400 million won last year to help Yoon get a construction permit.

The detention of Chyung depends on the National Assembly`s authorization of an arrest warrant against him.

Meanwhile, Cho Yang-sang, a chief of Goodmornign City contractors council, told a Dong-a Ilbo reporter Sunday that he met Yoon at the prosecution for two hours. “Yoon said that he gave money to another 2-3 politicians and one of them received 300 million won,” he claimed.

“But Yoon didn`t identify the politician he gave more money,” Cho added.

A prosecution official, however, said that Cho misunderstood. “Yoon just talked about the politicians who were already disclosed to the media,” he said. “The one that Yoon mentioned to have delivered 300 million won is not even a politician and the investigation team has been tracing him.”

Jin-Kyun Kil leon@donga.com