Prosecutors Raid Prime Group
By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
Prosecutors Tuesday searched the main office of the Prime Group, a mid-sized conglomerate, in eastern Seoul, on suspicions that it has maintained a slush fund and used it to bribe politicians.
The prosecutor's search came amid rumors that influential members of the previous administration were on its payroll and helped its business expansion.
It remains, however, to be seen whether the ongoing investigation will lead to a series of probes targeting big companies, following the typical pattern at the start of a new government.
``We are now investigating allegations that the group raised a massive slush fund while it expanded its business by increasing its affiliates over a short period of time,'' a prosecutor said without elaborating what exact suspicions they were looking into.
The group began its business as an operator of Techno-Mart, a major electronics outlet, and expanded to the construction, entertainment and financial sectors. It now has 15 affiliates, including Prime Development and Prime Mutual Savings Bank, and has also recently acquired Dong Ah Construction, which had long been under a debt restructuring process.
The investigators confiscated accounting records and data. Similar searches were conducted in the group's other offices.
One of the rumors had it that the group received a huge tax rebate when it sold a shopping mall, and special favors from the previous government when it launched a ``Hallyuwood'' project, a large scale theme park of Korean pop culture to be built in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province.
The group said it would cooperate with the investigation since it has ``nothing to hide.''