By Lee Kyung-min
Prosecutors searched a Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism office on Saturday over allegations a former senior tourism ministry official granted Kangwon Land, a casino operator in Gangwon Province, permission to expand in return for four jobs for his relatives there. Investigators from a special unit under the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office searched the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism at the Sejong Government Complex and the casino administrative building, as well as the homes and offices of three people, including a former ministry official identified only by his surname Kim.
He was then head of the tourism business department in charge of granting such permission. Kim is now a senior official at a ministry-supervised organization.
In the first search of the ministry building over the irregular hiring case involving Kangwon Land, investigators confiscated documents with details on the 2013 expansion plan for the lucrative adult entertainment facility. They are looking to identify the ministry’s role by reviewing official documents exchanged between the two in the lead-up to the 2013 signing of the deal.
Prosecutors believe Kim had a telephone conversation with a casino manager who then delivered the firm’s personnel department head a “request” to hire four of his family members between late 2012 and early 2013. The casino manager confirmed to Kim that all were employed after undergoing interviews.
This came two days after the team searched the offices of two high-profile lawmakers _ Reps. Kweon Seong-dong and Yeom Dong-yeol of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party _ implicated in a similar hiring irregularity allegation.
Investigators searched their offices in the National Assembly March 8, including the office of the legislation committee, which Kweon headed.
The search is the latest development in the investigation into the casino, dubbed a “hotbed" of corruption, following an allegation by Ahn Mee-hyun, a junior prosecutor who earlier worked at the Chuncheon District Prosecutors’ Office in Gangwon Province. She said early this year that her then-supervisors exerted undue influence to favor figures involved in the high-profile corruption case, including former Kangwon Land CEO Choi Heung-jip and the two lawmakers.
Her supervisors, Ahn added, repeatedly pressured her not to enter into evidence some key documents in which their names and criminal behavior were clearly identified, in an attempt to reduce the chances of conviction. Kweon, Ahn added, directly expressed frustration with the district office leadership. Ahn said the three and the head at a high prosecutors' office, whose identity has been withheld, as well as their aides frequently communicated, which she said indicated they had consulted each other to meddle in the investigation.
The investigation reflects growing public criticism over the hiring fraud amid great frustration among jobless young people. Most of the 518 people who landed jobs at Kangwon Land between 2012 and 2013 had connections with figures that had influence over company management. Of the 4,786 applicants whose job-seeking efforts were frustrated, 22 filed a suit against the company seeking 10 million won ($9,800) each in damages.