Prosecutors Raid Shincheonji Over Tax Evasion

Published March 26, 2026 By admin

A joint investigation team (headed by Kim Taehoon, chief of the Daejeon High Prosecutors’ Office) probing allegations of collusion between religious and political entities, including the Unification Church and Shincheonji, launched a criminal investigation on the 26th into suspicions of tax evasion and embezzlement by Shincheonji.

The team conducted raids on over 10 locations, including Shincheonji’s general headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, and 12 regional branches nationwide, on the morning of the same day. Prosecutors and investigators were dispatched to each region to secure tax-related materials, including Shincheonji’s corporate tax payment records.

Earlier, the Seoul Regional National Tax Service conducted a tax audit on Chairman Lee and Shincheonji’s 12 regional branches in 2020. Following this, it imposed 12.2 billion Korean won in corporate taxes and value-added taxes for the period 2012–2019. Tax authorities alleged that Shincheonji’s local churches disguised their operated stores as privately run businesses and maintained dual accounting books to evade taxes, leading to a referral to prosecutors for alleged violations of the Tax Crime Punishment Act (tax evasion).

However, the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office, which handled the case, decided not to indict Chairman Lee and others in October 2021. Despite an appeal by the National Tax Service, the Suwon High Prosecutors’ Office dismissed the case in 2022. Shincheonji subsequently filed an administrative lawsuit against the tax authorities to cancel the tax imposition but lost at both the first and second trials, as well as at the Supreme Court in January. The Supreme Court’s final ruling upheld the legality of the tax imposition.

The joint investigation team deemed it necessary to re-examine the existing criminal case and decided to reinvestigate the tax evasion allegations. After receiving the case from the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office on the 19th of last month, the team began its full-scale investigation with the raids on the 26th.

Content retrieved from: https://www.chosun.com/english/national-en/2026/03/26/OOIQH56B5BDUHBWAAF2WPQAC2M/.