Special counsel raids NEC headquarters over alleged bid rigging
Investigators raided the National Election Commission (NEC) headquarters Wednesday over allegations of preferential treatment in choosing a ballot printer maker, a special counsel team said. Thirty-two personnel, including two prosecutors, were mobilized to search a division of the NEC at its headquarters in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, and the office and factory of the company in question,…
Special counsel teams conducted a raid on the National Election Commission (NEC) headquarters on Wednesday, alleging preferential treatment in the selection of a ballot printer manufacturer, according to sources. Thirty-two personnel, including two prosecutors, were involved in the search of a NEC division at its Gwacheon headquarters and the company's office and factory, led by special counsel Lee Tae-han.
The investigation uncovered evidence suggesting the NEC provided preferential treatment to an unnamed company by granting advance information on a bid to choose a maker of early voting ballot issuing machines. The NEC is also suspected of amending its guidelines to require all local election commissions to purchase ink and supplies from the selected company.
Consequently, the company delivered approximately 17,000 ballot issuing machines to local election commissions in a 32.1 billion-won ($24 million) contract, the largest ever commissioned by the NEC in the past five years.
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