SEOUL-- The state anti-corruption watchdog said Monday it has identified 12 lawmakers of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) suspected of having engaged in illegal real estate dealings in a sweeping probe into opposition lawmakers conducted after a public sector land speculation scandal rocked the nation in March.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) announced that it has identified 13 alleged speculation cases linked to 12 members of the PPP and that it has relayed the information to a police-led special government investigation team looking into irregular deals involving public sector officials.

The ACRC has also identified one suspicious case involving a legislator of the Open Democratic Party, a minor liberal party politically aligned with the ruling Democratic Party (DP).

Probes into four other minor parties -- the Justice Party, the People's Party, the Basic Income Party and Transition Korea -- did not yield any suspicious cases, it added.

The watchdog said it has looked into past land transactions of a total of 507 people comprising the lawmakers and their families. It did not disclose the identities of the lawmakers under suspicion.

The latest probe followed a similar one conducted on members of the DP, in which 12 lawmakers were alleged to have been involved in questionable dealings in the past.

The agency's probe was the latest in a series of government measures that were presented in the wake of a large land speculation scandal involving employees of the state-run Korea Land & Housing Corp. (LH) that shook the nation in March.

In June, the police-led probe reported over 500 suspected public sector land speculation cases to the prosecution for further investigations.

Source: Yonhap News Agency