Police discover W78 bil. of con man's hidden funds

Police said Monday they have discovered 78 billion won of funds hidden by Cho Hee-pal, a notorious con man, who police say fled to China after tricking investors out of huge sums.

Cho is suspected of swindling more than 30,000 investors out of 3-4 trillion won in a pyramid marketing scheme related to medical equipment for five years from 2004.

Police have been tracing Cho’s hidden funds since March. They said they discovered about 700 bank accounts Cho used to hide the money in accounts registered under other people’s names.

Investigators said that Cho, 55, hid the money by investing in businesses and laundering part of the ill-gotten funds in the form of rental deposits.

Police said they will continue to trace Cho’s remaining hidden funds.

Cho has recently become the central figure in a corruption scandal surrounding senior prosecutor Kim Kwang-joon.

Cho is suspected of offering 240 million won in bribes to Kim. He also faces allegations that he provided bribes to other prosecutors, police officers, politicians and bureaucrats.

According to police, Cho fled to China in 2010 during an investigation into the fraud.

There were reports that Cho died of a heart attack in China. But police believe that he is still alive there, and say that he faked his death in a bid to avoid being arrested and charged.

In China, Cho reportedly used false ID and a forged passport to evade police.

The corruption case involving prosecutor Kim has reignited a long-time feud between prosecutors and police over which body should investigate the case.

Police have sought to conduct independent investigations, while the prosecution has tried to assert control over the investigations.