Embezzlement suspect's relatives booked for collusion

Police booked three relatives of a dental implant maker employee arrested for allegedly embezzling 221 billion won ($185 million) in company funds on suspicions of collusion.

Police were looking into whether the father, the wife and sister-in-law of the 45-year-old Osstem employee, identified only by the surname Lee, played a part in what is believed to be Korea's single largest embezzlement case.

Lee, who was arrested Saturday, allegedly used the embezzled money to buy 851 gold bars. Police confiscated 755 of them, including 254 from three separate locations in connection with the father, Lee's wife and his sister.

The focus of the investigation of the three relatives was on whether they took part in the suspected embezzlement or stashing of the proceeds.

Officials at Paju Police Station in Paju, 30 kilometers north of Seoul, were also searching for Lee's father after the 69-year-old went missing earlier in the day, leaving a suicide note.

He was scheduled to face police questioning earlier in the day on suspicions of helping his son stash the proceeds.

Osstem Implant, the country's largest dental implants manufacturer, has repeatedly emphasized that Lee acted alone, but police suspect that the funds were too big to be stolen by a single employee.

A day earlier, the company raised additional embezzlement charges against Lee and separate charges of stashing criminal proceeds against Lee's relatives, including the wife, his sister and the sister-in-law.

Yonhap