[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The prosecution summoned and investigated a Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) official who participated as a judge in the selection process of Lotte Group as the department store operator in Dongtan 2 New Town.
According to the legal community on the 7th, the Crime Proceeds Recovery Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Park Seunghwan) recently summoned Kim, the head of LH's Incheon Regional Headquarters who participated in the operator evaluation at the time, to ascertain the circumstances of the department store operator selection.
The prosecution is reported to have focused on questioning Director Kim about the reasons for giving high scores to Lotte at the time and whether there were any illicit dealings. The prosecution is currently summoning and investigating other individuals involved in the operator selection process.
Previously, in the bidding for the central anchor block department store operator in Dongtan 2 New Town conducted by LH in 2015, the Hyundai Department Store consortium and the Lotte Shopping consortium bid 414.4 billion won and 355.7 billion won respectively, and Lotte, which bid 58.7 billion won less, was ultimately selected. Regarding this, the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee raised suspicions of unfair evaluation by LH during the national audit at the time.
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