Korean prosecutors make arrests, set to release findings

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean prosecutors made three more arrests as part of their investigation into corruption allegations at the country's swimming federation (KSF) on Tuesday and said they would announce the findings of their probe later this week.

Yonhap news agency reported that prosecutors had arrested three coaches and KSF board members on suspicion of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars, with 1.8 billion won (1 million pounds) alone withdrawn from cash machines at casinos.

Prosecutors planned to release their findings on Thursday, Yonhap said.

A federation official declined to comment when contacted by Reuters on Tuesday.

Last Wednesday, prosecutors arrested an official from the KSF's Mokpo office in South Jeolla province, southwest Korea, and seized computer hard drives and documents from the branch office.

That followed the arrest of a KSF board member late last month amid allegations he accepted large sums of money from coaches to influence the selection of national team athletes.

The arrests come after the sports ministry announced last month it was discontinuing funding to several federations amid concerns over corruption.

The KSF said in a statement last week that it had dismissed four members caught up in the selection scandal.

(Reporting by Hooyeon Kim and Jee Heun Kahng; Writing by Peter Rutherford; Editing by John O'Brien)