Special Counsel Conducts Second Day of Raids on National Election Commission Over Alleged Misuse of Fair Election Funds

The special counsel team led by Special Counsel Lee Tae-han, which is investigating the ballot paper shortage and other issues from the June 3 local elections, is conducting a search and seizure operation at the National Election Commission (NEC) for the second consecutive day over suspicions of the unlawful disbursement of fair election promotion activity funds.

Starting this morning (November 3), the special counsel team secured materials including records of activity fund disbursements from 11 departments, including the offices of the NEC Chairperson and the Secretary-General.

A total of 38 personnel, including 2 prosecutors and 14 digital forensic investigators, were deployed for today's search and seizure.

Having caught circumstances suggesting that the NEC wrongfully disbursed activity funds to the chairperson and non-standing commissioners, the special counsel team deployed 65 investigators yesterday to carry out massive raids on 18 departments, including the NEC Chairperson's office.

The residence of former Secretary-General Hur Chul-hoon was also included in the search warrant.

The warrant listed charges including state treasury loss under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes, abuse of authority to obstruct the exercise of rights, and the creation of false official documents.

However, due to the wide scope of the targets, it is reported that all necessary materials for the investigation could not be fully secured yesterday.

The special counsel team stated, "We plan to meticulously analyze the secured materials to uncover any illegality in the budgeting and disbursement process of the fair election activity funds, and do our utmost to clarify the collusion and degree of responsibility among the relevant officials."

(Photo: Joint Press Corps, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.