Baek Hyun-dong's alleged favoritism, forced investigation begins... How far is the investigation?

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The police who are investigating the allegation of 'preferential treatment for the apartment development project in Baekhyeon-dong, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do' have seized and searched Seongnam City Hall.

The core of the allegation is that there was a preference in the process of changing the use of this business, and the mayor at the time was Rep. Lee Jae-myung.

Reporter Shin Yong-shik reports.

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The police search and seizure of Seongnam City Hall, which started at 9 am on the 16th, lasted for 6 hours.

About 10 investigators were deployed to nine locations including the mayor's office, the deputy mayor's office, and the urban planning department.

The police are known to have secured documents related to the approval of the Baekhyeon-dong apartment development project.

The so-called 'Baekhyeon-dong preferential treatment' case is a suspicion that there was a license and permission preference, such as changing the use of the Baekhyeon-dong site, where the development project was carried out at the time, from 'green area' to 'quasi-residential' in 2015 when Rep. Jae-myung Lee was the mayor of Seongnam.

In May of last year, a civic group filed a public interest audit with the Board of Audit and Inspection, and the Board of Audit and Inspection, who conducted the investigation, found that there was a suspicion of violating the laws of Seongnam City and requested an investigation into the Supreme Prosecutor's Office in January.

The Supreme Prosecutor's Office assigned the case to the Seongnam Branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, which handed over the case to the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency last month.

The case has been merged with the police investigation team, which has been investigating since December last year due to the accusation of the people's power.

The police also seized and searched four places, including the office of the apartment development company, the home of the representative, and the office of the person who was suspected of lobbying.

Following the suspicion of Seongnam FC sponsorship money and the misappropriation of the corporate card of his spouse Kim Hye-kyung, the police investigation is also accelerating, and attention is paid to whether the investigation will affect Rep. Lee Jae-myung.