SEONGNAM FC AND DOOSAN E&C RAIDED

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The police on Tuesday conducted a search at a football club and construction firm as part of an investigation into allegations involving former Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung. Political circles are on alert as the probe comes just ahead of the June 1 local elections.

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Bundang Doosan Tower. Construction completed last January. The site owned by Doosan Group was originally meant for a hospital but the conglomerate was permitted to change land use terms and was able to construct this commercial building instead. At around this time, Doosan Engineering and Construction made donations of 4.2 billion won on two occasions to Seongnam FC, Seongnam city’s football club. Lee Jae-myung, the city’s mayor at the time, was also serving as the club’s owner. Other companies such as Naver and NH Nonghyup also made donations to the football club. Allegations assert the donations were made in return for granting business favors. Police have been investigating the case and raided the offices of Seongnam FC and Doosan Engineering on Tuesday. Seongnam City Hall was also raided on May 2. Doosan is the first to be searched in connection to the probe out of six companies that had donated funds to the football club. The police have noted the real estate price of the newly built building has gone up significantly.

[Soundbite] (Realtor(VOICE MODIFIED)) : "A 3.3㎡ commercial land is traded at KRW 120 mn, up more than 3 fold from 5 years ago."

The case was first opened in 2018 with a complaint filed by a political party. But the police cleared the charges last year saying they don’t constitute bribery. However, the People Power Party filed an objection to that conclusion and in February, the prosecution requested the police conduct a supplementary probe. Through the latest raid, the police will look into how the donated money was used.