Police investigating the alleged abuse of the knockout sleeping drug propofol by Samsung heiress Lee Boo-jin booked the doctor of a cosmetic clinic in Gangnam in southern Seoul on Friday.

Police said Sunday that the doctor, identified as Yoo, is suspected of administering propofol to Lee and other patients.

The drug, which killed pop superstar Michael Jackson and was classified as a proscribed narcotic here in 2011, has become inexplicably fashionable among the rich in Korea.

Police also raided the clinic on Saturday afternoon and confiscated treatment records, ledgers documenting narcotic substances and computer files.Lee's alleged propofol abuse came to light in a report by online news outlet Newstapa last week that quoted a former nurse at the clinic. The nurse said Lee "was given propofol for long periods at a VIP room at the clinic." 
She claimed Yoo concealed records of the injections by filling in the names of other patients.

Police visited the clinic last Thursday and Friday, but staff refused to hand over records citing patient confidentiality. That prompted police to book the owner of the clinic and obtain a search warrant.

A police officer said, "We verified that the former nurse worked at that clinic and her testimony was consistent and credible."

Lee, the president of Samsung-owned Hotel Shilla, in a statement on Sunday denied the charges.

"I went to the clinic in order to treat a scar on my left leg caused by a suture following a burn back in 2016 and to receive treatment for sagging eyelids, but there was no illegal administering of drugs," she said.

 

 

 

Lee Boo-jin

 

 

Investigators leave after raiding a cosmetic surgery clinic in Seoul on Saturday. /Yonhap