Prosecutors Conduct Search and Seizure at Hwaseong Agricultural Technology Center

The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Investigation Division conducted a search and seizure at the Hwaseong Agricultural Technology Center in Bongdam-eup, Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province on the 11th.

The prosecutors sent five investigators to the center and conducted search and seizure operations on the director's office and the director's residence from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The prosecutors are reported to have launched the search and seizure after obtaining evidence that related public officials inflated land acquisition prices during the process of relocating the agricultural technology center to a newly constructed facility.

The prosecutors have been conducting investigations pursuant to a request for investigation from the Board of Audit and Inspection, and are investigating the case on suspicion of improper transactions between related public officials and land owners in the land acquisition process.

The prosecutors plan to analyze the seized materials and conduct questioning of the relevant public officials.

Previously, the Hwaseong Agricultural Technology Center came under scrutiny by the Board of Audit and Inspection when it concluded a sales contract at 3.8 billion won—160 million won more than the actual appraised value—for purchasing approximately 28,000 square meters of land owned by a person identified as K out of 66,000 square meters of the new construction site.