Kim Rahn is the managing editor of The Korea Times. Since joining the company in 2003, she has covered various beats including the presidential office, Seoul city government, the Bank of Korea and the tourism industry. In 2014, she won the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for her coverage of the ordeals of migrant women in Korea.
Taxmen under probe for corruption
By Kim Rahn
Police said Thursday they are questioning tax officials over suspicions they received bribes from several businessmen.
The government’s anti-graft investigation is now expanding from conglomerates and public energy firms to tax offices.
Investigators from the the National Police Agency raided the Seoul Regional Tax Office and five district tax offices in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday, in a probe into bribery involving tax officials.
The investigation may widen to other regional offices and even the National Tax Service itself.
The investigators secured related documents in the Seoul office and the five district ones _ Gangnam, Seocho, Mapo and Dongdaemun in Seoul and Pyeongtaek in Gyeonggi Province.
Police suspect that tax officials there reduced taxes for companies and clinics after receiving money from tax accountants who played the role of middlemen.
The probe follows the recent arrest of a tax accountant, surnamed Shin, who allegedly received 75 million won from a plastic surgery clinic in southern Seoul between July 2012 and August 2014 in exchange for helping the clinic pay less tax than it was liable for.
Police confirmed that an official at the Pyeongtaek office, surnamed Nam, took 10 million won from Shin when he worked at the Gangnam office.
They secured information that Shin had offered money to not only Nam but also several other tax officials. It is alleged that they received payments that could amount to as much as 20 million won.
“Shin told us the names on his bribery list. Based on the this, we are investigating those who allegedly received relatively larger sums of money first,” a member of the investigation team said.
“We are looking into the seized documents and checking whether the officials really cut the clinic’s taxes in return for money. We summoned one of the suspect officials and will call others soon.”
He said the number of officials that took bribes may grow as the investigation progresses.
“We’ll also probe if the officials gave favors to other companies, and if higher-ranking tax officials were involved,” he said.