Prosecutors on Wednesday raided the offices of the nation’s swimming governing body and its executives over suspicions they embezzled government subsidies.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office searched the offices of the Korea Swimming Federation and its affiliate in Gangwon Province, seizing hard drives and business documents.   

Several of the officials, including executive-level officials, were arrested on  corruption charges. Their identities were withheld. Authorities will also raid the suspects’ homes. 

The investigation came after the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s decision earlier this week to cut off financial support to the swimming entities over the allegation.

Aside from embezzling the state funds, the agencies also ran swimming courses for illegal profit, the investigators said. The agencies are only allowed to use their swimming pools to train professional athletes.

Prosecutors have launched similar investigations into alleged irregularities at other state-funded sport agencies.

Last year, the state-run Korea Sports Promotion Foundation was probed for allegedly misappropriating funds, leading to indictments of a number of heads of sports-related companies.

Sources said the investigation will expand to the overall sports industry. The Culture and Sports Ministry has recently cut subsidies to other sports federations, including the Korea Shooting Federation and Korean Equestrian Federation, due to similar suspicions.

By Yeo Jun-suk (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)