A former head of South Korea's national tax agency was arrested Friday on bribery charges, as the country is reportedly beset by deepening corruption. Jeon Goon-Pyo, 59, allegedly received $US300,000 in cash and a high-end watch from leading South Korean entertainment and food conglomerate CJ Group in July of 2006, just after he became the head of the National Tax Service (NTS), according to prosecutors.
CJ Group chairman Lee Jay-Hyun was indicted for embezzlement and tax evasion in a separate corruption case last month. Lee, 53, is accused of stashing away undeclared assets worth about 96 billion won ($86 million) and of evading taxes worth 54.6 billion won since 2004. Heo Byung-Ik, the former deputy tax chief, has already been arrested for allegedly delivering the bribe in a bagful of US dollars to Jeon.
A third tax official, Song Gwang-Jo, resigned as chief of the NTS Seoul Office Thursday over allegations that he was treated to luxurious junkets by CJ Group when he was serving as a tax inspector in 2006. During an audit into the conglomerate in 2006, tax authorities obtained evidence that the group and its chairman allegedly dodged some 356 billion won in corporate and income taxes.
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