The joint police-prosecution task force on church-state collusion, which is investigating allegations including lobbying of politicians by religious groups, has reopened and launched an investigation into tax evasion allegations involving Shincheonji. The task force said on the 19th that it is currently investigating a taxes evasion case that received a nonindictment from the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office in Oct. 2021, after reopening the case and receiving it on referral.
In Dec. 2020, the tax authorities imposed 12.2 billion won in corporate taxes for the 2012–2019 business years and value-added taxes on Shincheonji. The authorities said Shincheonji evaded taxes by disguising the names of shops run by its branch churches as sole proprietorships and using dual ledgers, among other methods.
In connection with this, the authorities also reported Shincheonji leader Lee Man-hee to prosecutors on charges including taxes evasion. However, in Oct. 2021, the year after the report, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office decided not to indict Lee and others.
Shincheonji filed an administrative suit to cancel the imposition of corporate taxes and other assessments against the tax authorities, but the court dismissed the claim, and that judgment was finalized by the Supreme Court last month. Considering that the lawfulness of the tax assessment has been finalized, the task force plans to reexamine the circumstances under which the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office found no charges at the time and the related issues.
As it investigates the case, the task force also plans to look into lobbying allegations by Shincheonji. The task force's investigative scope includes an audio recording containing remarks by former general affairs chief Go Dong-an, and the recording includes statements to the effect of, "I will say that, through lawmaker A, we should 'cook' the Suwon district chief prosecutor," and, "Meet with lawmaker A, check how we can influence the Suwon district chief prosecutor, and smooth over the taxes evasion case—that seems like the best request to make."