Soccer-Korean referee chiefs indicted in bribery scandal: report

SEOUL (Reuters) – Two former K-League referee chiefs have been indicted by South Korean prosecutors in a bribery scandal, according to a local media report on Thursday.

Identified by their common surname Lee, they were indicted without detention by the Busan District Prosecutors’ Office for taking bribes from a referee, Yonhap news agency reported.

One of them accepted a total of 12.5 million won ($10,670) from the referee, identified by his surname Choi, who paid 8.5 million won to the other Lee.

The money was paid to secure more matches and good evaluation at the end of the season, the report said.

The second Lee, aged 54, also took three million won from a South Korean club, it added.

Choi was indicted last year for taking bribe from a club in exchange of giving them favorable decisions.

Bribery allegations have dogged South Korean soccer, prompting K-League authorities to introduce a computer-generated allocation system for assigning referees last year.

Busan prosecutors indicted two referees and a scout on charges of bribery last month.

(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; Editing by John O’Brien)