Never-Ending Apartment Reconstruction Scandals

A series of lobbying scandals concerning apartment rebuilding projects in downtown Seoul have been disclosed recently.

Seoul Nambu Police filed arrest warrants against three individuals including Mr. Kang(52), the apartment rebuilding union leader of Apartment S in Doksan-dong, Geumcheon-gu, Seoul on May 31, for embezzling public money and receiving bribes from the construction company (embezzlement at work). The representative of the involved construction company Mr. Yong(48), who offered the bribe, was booked without detention.

Kang and the reconstruction commissioner Mr. Yoo (47) are charged with receiving 30 million and 40 million won, respectively, from Mr. Yong in return for selecting his company for the apartment reconstruction project in May 2003.

Kang is also suspected of misappropriating 92.6 million won of the union’s public money in November same year.

The union auditor Mr. Jeong (50) forged a receipt in July 2003 and diverted 50 million won of reconstruction contributions for personal use. In particular, he blackmailed Kang in January 2004, threatening to expose his bribe receipt from the construction company and extorted 23.6 million and over 30 million won from Kang and Yoo, respectively.

Meanwhile, on May 31, the Seoul Seocho Police Station, currently investigating a scandal involving an apartment reconstruction union in Hwagok-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, set out to track the accounts of union members with a search and seizure warrant issued by Seoul Central District Court.

Jae-YoungKim jaykim@donga.com