A South Korean stem cell scientist once hailed as a national hero has been charged with criminal fraud and embezzlement, a senior prosecutor said on Friday.
Prosecutors have been investigating the team led by scientist Hwang Woo-suk since January after a panel at the university where he once worked said his team deliberately fabricated key data in two research papers.
Senior prosecutor Lee In-kyu told reporters that Hwang had been charged with fraud, embezzlement and bioethics law violations over the suspected illegal procurement of human ova.
Lee said in a statement Hwang was the mastermind of an elaborate scheme to manipulate research results to make it look like the team had actually produced stem cell lines through cloning human embryos.
Prosecutors have said the misuse of state funds carries a jail term of up to 10 years while a violation of the bioethics law can mean up to three years behind bars. No trial date had been set, Lee said later by telephone.
Hwang's research had raised hopes because it seemed to hasten the day when genetically specific tissue could be grown from embryonic stem cells to repair damaged organs or treat diseases such as Alzheimer's.
Lee told a news conference Hwang has also been charged with misusing and embezzling 2.8 billion won ($2.99 million) in state funds and private donations.
Hwang is suspected of using part of the funds to purchase human ova - in violation of a bioethics law that went into effect in 2005 - and for donations to politicians, Lee said.
Hwang has been in seclusion for several months and was not immediately available for comment. Prosecutors also charged four of Hwang's team members for aiding in the alleged fraud and another researcher for suspected violation of the bioethics law.
Hwang has said previously he is the victim of a conspiracy to discredit him and has blamed junior researchers at a fertility clinic that took part in the research for the fake data.
ROCK STAR STATUS:
Hwang's team basked in global acclaim and Hwang had rock-star like status at home where he was often called "the pride of Korea" after his team said it had achieved three milestones and put the country at the centre of stem cell research.
In a paper published in the periodical Science in 2004, Hwang's team said it had cloned the first human embryo for research. In 2005, Hwang's team published another paper in Science saying it had produced tailored embryonic stem cells.
"It has been confirmed the so-called patient-specific stem cells in the 2005 paper never existed from the beginning," Lee said, adding Hwang ordered data to be fabricated for the paper.
For the 2004 paper, "Professor Hwang ordered researchers to fabricate and publish" data such as photographs, DNA and genetic test results. Lee said.
Several dozen of Hwang's supporters gathered outside the prosecutors' office, shouting insults at people entering and leaving the building and throwing objects, including a ladder, at them.
Hwang's team received 41.7 billion won ($44.57 million) in state funds from 1995 to 2005, the Board of Audit and Inspection has said, adding there were accounting holes in the records kept by Hwang and his team for the use of the money.
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