Police launch probe into allegations that Oh Se-hoon publicly made false statements about Hangang Bus

[Financial News] Police have launched an investigation after Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon was reported on suspicion of violating the Public Official Election Act over remarks related to the Hangang Bus project.
According to police on the 2nd, Seoul Namdaemun Police Station plans to summon and question lawmaker Park Joo-min, head of the Democratic Party’s Fact-Finding Task Force on the Cover-up of Corruption in the Hangang Bus Project, as the complainant at around 10:30 a.m. on the 3rd.
The fact-finding task force filed a complaint with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on the 29th of last month, accusing Mayor Oh of publishing false information in violation of the Public Official Election Act. The complaint alleges that Oh made remarks at odds with the facts while explaining why the Board of Audit and Inspection dismissed a request for a public-interest audit of the Hangang Bus project during a plenary session of the Seoul Metropolitan Council on November 20 last year.
At the time, Mayor Oh said, “We received a response from the Board of Audit and Inspection saying, ‘We cannot conduct any additional audit because an audit requested by the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee is still pending.’”
However, the fact-finding task force claimed that Oh’s remarks were false, saying the official letter he received from the Board of Audit and Inspection stated only that “the matter could be handled through Seoul City’s own audit.”
The complaint also cited remarks Oh made on March 17, when he formally announced that he would take part in the People Power Party’s Seoul mayoral primary, to the effect that the Board of Audit and Inspection’s findings had dispelled suspicions over the selection of an underqualified operator for the Hangang Bus project.
Seoul City issued a statement under the name of spokesperson Ho Jun-seok on the day the complaint was filed, rejecting the allegations. The city called them “a malicious distortion of facts that ignores the full context and intent of the remarks,” and explained that the remarks came as Oh was describing the overall circumstances surrounding the audit, including that an additional audit was difficult because an audit requested by the National Assembly was already underway.
Meanwhile, the statute of limitations for cases involving violations of the Public Official Election Act related to this year’s local elections expires on the 3rd of next month.
[email protected] Seo Ji-yun Reporter