[THE INVESTOR] Prosecutors raided the Ministry of Employment and Labor on July 13 as part of a probe into allegations its ranking officials interfered with an inquiry into a Samsung Electronics subsidiary’s possible illegal use of dispatched workers.

Investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office searched the building in central Seoul and confiscated evidence, including computer hard disks, related to the oversight on Samsung Electronics Service, the after-sales service unit of the tech giant.

The ministry investigated the company around mid-2013 on suspicion that it committed irregularities in using temporary workers dispatched from a temp agency. The ministry concluded in September that year that the recruitment was done in line with the law.

But prosecutors suspect that such a conclusion was reached as some of the then top officials at the ministry, including a vice minister, exerted influence to tone down the investigation.

An in-house reform committee at the ministry recently raised the issue and has formally asked for a prosecution probe into the allegations. Unionized workers at Samsung Electronics Service have also filed for a complaint against about a dozen former and incumbent ministry officials alleging their involvement in the scheme.

A separate investigation has been under way against the management of Samsung’s after-service unit, over allegations it carried out a slew of organized schemes aimed at toppling its labor union.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)