Seoul (South Korea), March 11: The government has identified seven more public officials suspected of buying land for speculation, bringing the total number to 20, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Thursday.
Chung made the remark at a press conference announcing the results of the government's preliminary investigation into a growing corruption scandal centered on the state housing developer, Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH).
He said the investigation looked into more than 14,000 employees of LH and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and confirmed suspicious land purchases by a total of 20 people mainly in the Gwangmyeong-Siheung area, Gyeonggi Province, the site of a major public housing development project.
"The government is declaring war against real estate crime," he said. "We will come up with special measures to sternly punish illegal and unfair practices and firmly enforce them."
Source: Yonhap