South Korean lawmaker referred to prosecution for allegedly underreporting personal assets ahead of polls

Yongin: South Korean Police have referred a lawmaker of the main opposition Democratic Party to the prosecution for allegedly underreporting the amount of his assets ahead of April's general elections, officials said on Tuesday.

The Yongin Dongbu Police Station referred Rep. Lee Sang-sik to the prosecution without physical detention on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act, Yonhap news agency reported.

In March, the ruling People Power Party (PPP) filed a complaint with the prosecution, accusing Lee of scaling down the value of the assets, including luxurious artworks he owned, during the asset disclosure process ahead of the elections.

The PPP claimed that Lee had initially reported cash assets of 500 million won (US$365,023) but lowered it to 350 million won the following day and that the assets owned by his spouse have increased by over 5 billion won in four years, but they only paid 18 million won in taxes.

When the accusations surfaced, Lee said the artworks owned by his wife had been worth 1.5 billion won in 2020, and although some works saw their value increase three to fourfold more recently, they did not pay the extra taxes because the artworks were still in their possession and the profits were left unrealized.

On Tuesday, Lee told Yonhap News Agency by phone that the charges were centred on his failure to reflect the increased value of the artworks, but refused to comment on the case further.