Former Taekwang Group chief investigated for alleged embezzlement

Former Taekwang Group Chairman Lee Ho-jin [Yonhap]

Police on Tuesday raided former Taekwang Group Chairman Lee Ho-jin's residence and company properties over allegations of embezzlement and breach of trust.

Taekwang is a mid-sized conglomerate that owns petrochemical and financial firms.

Investigators from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency searched Lee's home, a Taekwang-owned office in downtown Seoul and the Taekwang Country Club in Yongin, south of Seoul, in the morning to secure possible evidence related to his suspected wrongdoing.

Lee is suspected of having created slush funds worth over 2 billion won ($1.5 million) through affiliates of the textile-to-media conglomerate.

Lee had formerly served a three-year prison term for embezzlement, breach of trust and tax evasion before being released in October 2021.

The police probe came only about two months after he was granted a special presidential pardon and a reinstatement of his right to conduct business activities on the occasion of the Aug. 15 Liberation Day anniversary that commemorates the end of Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

BY PARK EUN-JEE, YONHAP [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]