Andamiro Entertainment Offices Raided

On August 29, the Special Investigation Department in the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (DPO) seized and searched six places related to Kim Yong-hwan (48) the head of Andamiro Entertainment, a gift certificate issuer for the controversial gambling industry, including his house, private office in Seocho district in southern Seoul, and the company’s plant in Paju, in Gyeonggi Province.

Kim is under suspicion that he provided ideas in the shift in August last year from confirmation-based to designation-based systems in choosing gift certificate issuers and the introduction of gift certificates, and influencing the process of selecting certificate issuers. The prosecutors said they also banned a former officer of the Office of the President, Kwon Ki-jae (48), from leaving Korea and were trying to find his whereabouts. He was transferred to the National Tax Service after shares of Ko-win Solution, yet another gift certificate issuer, were found held in his mother’s name.

will71@donga.com