Prosecutors Friday raided Prime Minister's office over allegations that its ethics officials illegally conducted surveillance against a civilian.
The raid came as prosecutors were gearing up to dig into the unfolding scandal after they questioned a former businessman Kim Jong-ik, 56, who raised allegations on an investigative television program that a group of four ethics officials from the prime minister's office had conducted illegal surveillance of him after he posted a video clip on the Internet critical of President Lee Myung-bak in May 2008.
A dozen investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office stormed into the ethics division office in the Central Government Complex building in downtown Seoul at around 10 a.m., to confiscate documents and records related to the alleged surveillance.
According to prosecutors, they have secured official documents, daily logs and computer files as well as internal documents to look into why the ethics division of the prime minister's office, which is only tasked to look into the corruption of civil servants, covertly kept Kim under close watch. Based on the documents, they will also probe whether the officials pressed Kim's contractors to cut business deals with him and how they confiscated accounting records of the company, officials noted.
Earlier this week, the prosecution banned the four officials, including Lee In-kyu, a senior ethics official, from leaving the country as it launched a full investigation into the case.