LH SCANDAL GOV’T TASK FORCE

[Anchor Lead]

A special governmental task force comprising 770 members has been launched to investigate the land speculation scandal of the Korea Land and Housing Corporation. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun has urged prosecutors and police to cooperate closely in order to investigate the matter thoroughly.

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The special governmental task force is comprised of officials from four different institutions. Police officers account for the largest proportion of the team. Some 680 officers from municipal and provincial police agencies as well as the National Investigation Headquarters have been assigned to investigate the land speculation scandal. The team consists of 770 members in total. Other members include officials from the National Tax Service, the Financial Services Commission and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. In addition to the land speculation scandal of the Land and Housing Corporation, the task force will also look into the possibility of other similar cases nationwide involving public servants who used insider information to purchase land in urban development areas. A high-ranking official from the National Investigation Headquarters says currently 15 former and incumbent LH officials are suspected of their involvement in the scandal. However, high-ranking public officials could also be subject to investigation in the future.Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun has
convened a meeting with the ministers of justice and land, police and prosecutors in charge of the investigation. He stressed collaboration between police and prosecutors, as this is the first major case since police were granted more investigative power.

[Soundbite] Chung Sye-kyun(Prime Minister) : "The entire process, from investigation to indictment and maintenance of public action, must be carried out without a glitch."

Prosecutors and the police will set up a council to discuss the matter whenever it's needed. On Thursday morning they held a working-level meeting between the Supreme Public Prosecutors' Office and the National Investigation Headquarters. The Justice Ministry has decided to dispatch a prosecutor specializing in real estate cases to the governmental task force of the prime minister's office, which is currently investigating the basic facts of the scandal.