South Korean prosecutors raided the offices of Samsung Group Wednesday, a prosecution official said, after media reports of alleged links with a confidante of President Park Geun-hye who has been indicted in an influence-peddling scandal.

The Yonhap news agency reported that investigators were probing the NPS decision to approve the $8-billion merger of Samsung C&T Corp. and Cheil Industries last year.

NPS, the world's third-largest pension fund, has come under scrutiny by the media and civic groups over its approval as a major shareholder of the merger between two affiliates of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest family run conglomerate.

Prosecutors raided four locations – the NPS headquarters, NPS Investment Management office headquarters, Samsung Group offices and the office of a former NPS investment management official – said a prosecution official who was not authorized to speak to the media and declined to be identified.

The size of NPS' combined stakes in both firms was about 2.4 trillion won ($2.05 billion), or 3 percent of NPS' domestic stock portfolio.

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