Special prosecutor probing election commission raids 10 sites, including Busan commission, over alleged exclusive favors in ‘warehouse contracts’ ... steps up coercive investigation

[Financial News] The special prosecutor team investigating the National Election Commission (Special Prosecutor Lee Tae-han) has launched compulsory investigations at 10 locations, including regional election commissions, over allegations that a particular company received preferential treatment in contracts to store election supplies. Separately, the team said it had confirmed that voter counts by time slot were falsely entered during the June 3 local elections and launched large-scale raids across the country, including additional search-and-seizure operations.
The special prosecutor team said in a press notice on the 15th that it had conducted search-and-seizure operations at 10 locations starting at 9:30 a.m. that day on suspicion of breach of trust in business, obstruction of bidding and other offenses. The locations included three metropolitan and provincial election commissions in Busan, South Gyeongsang and North Gyeongsang, and five city, county and district election commissions.
The search targets included the election commissions in Chilgok County and Nam-gu in Pohang, North Gyeongsang; Sacheon, South Gyeongsang; Dongnae District, Busan; and Ulju County, Ulsan. They also included the Election Training Institute in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and the residences of election commission officials. A total of 34 people were deployed at the sites, including 10 forensic investigators.
The special prosecutor team said it had found indications that the Busan, South Gyeongsang and North Gyeongsang election commissions had repeatedly entered into contracts with a particular company since 2022 under circumstances suggesting exclusive preferential treatment, in connection with contracts to store election supplies, known as ‘warehouse contracts.’
The special prosecutor team said, “Indications of ties with a particular company have been found not only at the National Election Commission but also at regional election commissions.” It added, “Based on analysis of the seized materials, we will uncover structural corruption across the lax operations of election commissions at all levels and hold those involved strictly accountable.”
Meanwhile, the special prosecutor team announced that it had confirmed false entries of voter counts by time slot during the local elections at 30 city, county and district election commissions nationwide. This means 25 additional locations were identified beyond the five previously found by the joint investigation headquarters of prosecutors and police: Seocho and Gangnam districts in Seoul, Gimpo and Uiwang in Gyeonggi Province, and Jincheon County in North Chungcheong Province.
The special prosecutor team analyzed voter-count log data obtained from the National Election Commission and questioned around 70 election commission officials responsible for reporting real-time turnout.
The team said its investigation found cases in some areas where, after the voter count entered for a particular time slot exceeded the final voter count, officials either revised the overall figures afterward or left the incorrectly entered figure unchanged and continued entering the same value or figures that increased by a fixed amount.
To determine the scale of the false entries and whether there had been organized involvement, the special prosecutor team has also been conducting separate search-and-seizure operations since 9:10 a.m. that day at a total of seven locations, including the National Election Commission; four city and provincial election commissions in South Chungcheong, South Jeolla-Gwangju, South Gyeongsang and Gangwon; and the election commissions in Nam-gu, Busan, and Seogwipo, Jeju. A total of 31 people were deployed: three prosecutors, 20 investigators and eight digital forensics personnel.
The special prosecutor team said the falsely entered figures had been announced to the public as real-time turnout and that it plans to establish how the election statistics were falsified and who was responsible.
 
[email protected] Choi Eun-sol Reporter