Police: "Kakao Talk conversation not fabricated, on sex bribes allegations Seungri switched to suspect" "Illegally shot videos on Kakao Talk also true" !
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Various criminal allegations against Gangnam clubs, which started in Burning Sun, are now shifting to Arena. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's investigation team announced on the 10th that it booked Seungri (real name Lee Seung-hyun) of Big Bang as a suspect of offering sexual bribes to a group of foreign investors, at Arena, a popular club in Gangnam. On the 26th of last month, SBS entertainment media "funE" raised suspicions that Seungri had used Gangnam clubs such as Arena as a "lobbying venue" and even offering sexual entertainment to investors. Based on this, the media obtained a Kakao Talk conversation from late 2015 in which Seungri implied sexual favors with another singer, leader Yoo of Yuri Holdings, and the employee Kim who was preparing to set up the event.
Police confirmed the conversation was not a hoax and turned Seungri into a suspect. "We obtained and analyzed Kakao Talk's conversations, and found that the chat room actually existed and the conversation was not fabricated/tampered with." a police official said. "We changed Seungri's status to a suspect because of the need of a compulsory investigation." Seungri had previously called the Kakao Talk conversation a fabrication. In order to confirm the sexual favors' allegations, the investigation team sent some 20 investigators and digital analysts to Arena, Gangnam, Seoul, to confiscate various documents and computer hard disks.
In addition, police are expanding their investigation after confirming that Arena's management has been in contact with public officials. The Gangnam Police Station in Seoul had been investigation Arena since last year, on suspicions of tax evasion worth 15 billion won, it has booked more than 10 people including Kang (Arena owner), who is suspected of running more than 10 entertainment establishments in the Gangnam area. According to Hankyoreh's report, the police have obtained computer files with contents such as " 10k, Tax Office, ○○, 10k, Fire Department" etc. However, it is reported that the government has not been able to conduct a full-fledged investigation on bribery since it does not include the date when the money was received or the money was delivered. The Gangnam Police Station raided the Seoul Regional Tax Office and got handed over documents prepared during the tax investigation, and five investigators are working on the seized materials.
[The Tax Office are suspected of having grossly mishandled the initial tax investigation of Arena, more details from Korean news articles in English here & here & here]
Another article stated that police confirmed that when it comes to the recent media report of a Kakao Talk group chat including Seungri, it indeed contains illegaly shot pictures and videos. The police also confirmed that Seungri can still be investigated after enlisting as they have consulted with the Ministry of National Defense, but it will be done on a more procedural way considering the military life.
