Taekwang Industry chief's home, office raided in corruption probe over Roh associates

(ATTN: UPDATES from 3rd para with probe details, ADJUSTS Park's investment amount)
SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Yonhap) -- Prosecutors raided the home and the company office of
Park Yen-cha, a key sponsor for former President Roh Moo-hyun, on Friday,
intensifying an investigation into corruption allegations surrounding Roh
associates over the 2006 sale of an ailing securities firm.

Park, head of Taekwang Industry Co., a leading shoemaker and Nike's outsourcing
firm, was suspected of tax evasion and insider trading in the process of the
takeover of Sejong Securities Co. by the state-run mega firm for farmers,
Nonghyup.
Investigators confiscated accounting books, stock trade data, computer hard disks
and personal files, from Park's residence as well as the headquarters of Taekwang
and its golf course affiliate, Jeongsan Country Club, in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang
Province, in the morning, said the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.
Park had invested some 11 billion won (US$7.5 million) in the shaky securities
firm in 2005 and earned 17.8 billion won when Sejong share prices jumped at the
news of Nonghyup's takeover, prosecutors said. Park might have been tipped off
about the planned acquisition by the chief of Nonghyup at that time, Chung
Dae-kun, who prosecutors say was personally close to Park.
Chung, who is serving a jail term for another bribery case, was also suspected of
accepting 5 billion won in return for approving the takeover.
The probe was part of a broader investigation that also involves Roh's elder
brother, Roh Gun-pyeong, who is suspected of having accepted a bribe in return
for helping to orchestrate the takeover. Sejong Securities teetered on the brink
of collapse before its acquisition by Nonghyup in January 2006.
Roh Gun-pyeong has denied the allegations. Prosecutors planned to summon him.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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