Rep. Lee Sang-soo of Roh’s Camp to be Summoned Again

Rep. Lee Sang-soo of Roh’s Camp to be Summoned Again. January. 11, 2004 23:03. by Wi-Yong Jung Tae-Hoon Lee viyonz@donga.com jefflee@donga.com.

The Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is investigating illegal fund raising for the presidential election, decided yesterday to summon Rep. Lee Sang-soo from the Uri Party again on the charge of involving in campaign finances from President Roh Moo-hyun’s election camp.

The prosecution plans to question Rep. Lee on how he received the funds raised by companies, such as Samsung, through Ahn Hee-jung—the former presidential secretary for political planning.

Also, the prosecution is slated to summon about 10 lawmakers from both the ruling and the opposition parties—who are suspected of illegally spending party’s campaign funds for personal purposes during the presidential election period in 2002—within this week.

The prosecution is known to have already found circumstances in which some politicians did not convey a portion of the money—which is delivered from the election management committees of the ruling and the opposition parties—into the party’s district chapters and received them in bank accounts under the other’s names.

In addition, the prosecution yesterday called Rep. Kim Young-iel of the opposition Grand National Party (GNP), who is currently in custody in Seoul prison, and questioned him whether or not he delivered the funds raised from companies such as Samsung, SK, and Kumho to district chapters and incumbent lawmakers.

The prosecution also announced that two legislators of the opposition Grand National Party, Rep. Choi Don-woong, who is suspected of being involved in the “SK slush funds scandal” and Rep. Park Jae-wook, who is suspected of embezzling public funds, expressed their willingness of taking part in court hearings and promised to be present at the court today through their lawyers. Today, Choi and Park are brought to court hearings to decide whether or not to grant the warrants. The prosecution is considering summoning three or four lawmakers who received SK slush funds from 2000, when the general election finished, to 2002, when the presidential election was in full swing. In addition, the prosecution plans to summon some business figures who furnished campaign funds, such as Lee Hak-soo, chief restructuring official of Samsung, for questioning on how they provided the funds to the GNP and whether or not they provided illegal funds to Roh’s camp as well. The prosecution is also investigating on how Daewoo furnished illegal funds to lawmakers by using materials regarding the presidential election campaign funds, which were handed from the Seoul District Prosecutor’s Office. The prosecution confirmed that SK Group Chairman Son Kil-seung, who was arrested for diverting about a trillion won of company funds, opened bank accounts for three months under the name of SK Corp. Chairman Chey Tae-won for investment in futures. Accordingly, the prosecution plans to summon SK Corp. Chairman Chey for questioning on issues such as whether or not he was reported that fact, and they will later decide on how to deal with Son’s charge.