Four people, including former lawmaker Yoo Seong-min, have been referred to prosecutors over allegations that his daughter received preferential treatment in her appointment as a professor. Yoo Dam, 32, teaches in the Department of International Trade at Incheon National University.
The Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Investigation Unit of the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency said on the 16th that it had booked Yoo and three others, including Incheon National University President Lee In-jae, on charges of obstruction of business without detention and referred them to prosecutors.
Two of them — President Lee and a university professor — were also accused of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.
Yoo and the others are accused of obstructing the university's hiring process when Yoo Dam was recruited as a professor in the Department of International Trade at the College of Global Politics and Economics in the second semester of last year. President Lee and one other were also accused of receiving improper solicitations related to the hiring, but no evidence of money or valuables changing hands was found.
Police received the complaint 11 months ago, in November last year, and investigated 23 people named in it, later booking three more including Yoo.
Of the 26 suspects, however, police decided not to refer 22 of them, concluding that the allegations against them were not substantiated. Only the four were referred.
Yoo Dam, the professor at the center of the allegations, was questioned only once in writing and was not booked because police found no evidence of criminal conduct.
"We conducted 39 rounds of questioning involving 29 people, including those named in the complaint and witnesses, and secured evidence through four searches and seizures," a police official said. "We referred the suspects against whom the allegations were substantiated."
Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Yoo Seung-ryeol said at a press briefing on the 30th of last month that there were many facts still to be verified, adding, "We will not drag out the investigation and will complete it as quickly as possible."