The National Tax Service on Tuesday launched its investigation into POSCO by dispatching a group of inspectors to the steel producer’s headquarters in southern Seoul.

The state tax inspectors also raided POSCO’s two steel mills in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, and Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province.

Without offering a prior notice on their visit, the inspectors reportedly secured the company’s financial statements and computer hard disks in executives’ offices.

As the company was subject to periodical tax probes in 2005 and 2010, this time is considered to be an extraordinary and full-fledged investigation aimed at revealing possible irregularities, market insiders alleged.

While the NTS declined to comment on backgrounds of its simultaneous raid of the three major operations of POSCO, POSCO spokespeople said they yet to be acquainted with the details.

(kys@heraldcorp.com)