POLICE SEIZE MOLIT

[Anchor Lead]

Police investigating the public corporation employees who had speculated in land deals have conducted their first search and seizure of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation fifteen days after the allegations first surfaced. While the investigation is focused on how the inside information was leaked, a witness testified that an individual who supposedly received that inside information ran a temporary real estate agency.

[Pkg]

A search and seizure operation was carried out on the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport 15 days after the allegations were first raised. The target was the public housing team overseeing new urban development plans which could provide clues to where the information leak started.

[Soundbite] Lee Seung-myeong(Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency) : "We tried to secure much materials. (Is there a reason why it took so long?) Probably because there was a lot of materials."

Investigators also searched the main office of North Siheung Agricultural Co-op, which provided most of the loans used to purchase the land in Siheung.

[Soundbite] North Siheung Agricultural Co-op Official(VOICE MODIFIED) : "I have nothing to say other than that the loan was granted following standard procedure because the collateral's value was recognized. They had no choice but to take out a loan from us because it’s under our jurisdiction."

The Korea Land and Housing Corporation headquarters was searched again in eight days. The latest search and seizure comes in response to derisive comments posted anonymously on an office workers' bulletin board. An individual had been suspected of being an LH employee. The police also executed a warrant on the bulletin board operator based in the U.S. via e-mail. The police investigation is expanding gradually to include the residents in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi-do Province and in the Jeollabuk-do region who had bought land together with LH employees. The key to a successful investigation lies in figuring out how and what kind of information was leaked to private citizens. There are even witness testimonies that claim a Mr. Lim had set up a makeshift real estate office to encourage speculation. He had supposedly bought land in Siheung with an LH employee, known by his surname Kang, in January and then purchased another plot of land on the same day in another neighborhood under his child’s name.

[Soundbite] Nearby Merchant (VOICE MODIFIED) : "His real estate office had no name. His office was next to my store."

[Soundbite] Official of the Gwacheon Public Housing Zone(VOICE MODIFIED) : "Mr. Lim strangely had an LH development map of this area. He told landowners to buy what he picked out."

The police have sent investigators to Gwacheon and Siheung to look into the alleged speculative activities of Mr. Kang and Mr. Lim.