Police Clear Lawmaker Park Deokheum of Allegations Involving Billions-Won Favoritism in Contract Awards to Supervised Agencies

Park Deok-heum, a member of the People Power Party who is suspected of receiving preferential orders worth hundreds of billions of won from an audited institution through a family business, is holding a press conference to announce his resignation from the party at the National Assembly Communication Office on the 23rd. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The police have cleared Park Deok-heum, a member of the People Power Party, who was suspected of winning construction contracts worth hundreds of billions of won from supervised institutions.

On the 6th, the Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced that it had dismissed the case against Park, who was reported on the 28th of last month for abuse of power and violation of the Public Official Ethics Act, due to insufficient evidence.

Earlier, Park was suspected of winning construction contracts worth hundreds of billions of won from supervised institutions through a construction company under his family's name while serving on the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee for six years starting in 2012. In September 2020, civic groups including the Minsheng Economic Policy Research Institute reported Park to the police, and in May of last year, the police conducted a search of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Urban Infrastructure Construction Headquarters office.

Due to these allegations, Park left the party in September 2020 but rejoined in January this year.