The 'Kim Jae Rok case' has grown to become a case about Hyundai group slush funds. Its offices were raided by prosecutors, the president of one of its key subsidiaries has been arrested, and now executives responsible for financial matters are being in called in one after another for questioning by investigators. There's no telling where the investigation is going to go next, but the leads and accusations discussed publicly by prosecutors so far are already creating a lot of waves.
What prosecutors have found so far are just enough to make accusations about the issuing of permits and licenses in the course of expansion construction at Hyundai's main offices. Those involve the Ministry of Construction and Transportation and Seoul's city government. But as the prosecution says, What the police are talking about, however, is just one of the many suspicions. The subsidiary Glovis put the slush fund together, and is a subsidiary in the group's succession of management rights. Its president, now under arrest, has long served as the group's money man. By the looks of it, the company's aggressive growth in strength over the past few years and the slush fund activity are related. And you wonder if it was only Hyundai that tried to use powerful government "influentials" in the same way.
Corruption cases such as these always find the big stuff with just a tiny clue. This time around as well, Hyundai's slush funds were discovered while prosecutors were investigating illegal political funds and as part of that were in pursuit of leads involving Kim Jae Rok's illegal "lobbying." It is of course wrong to go into a company, cast the nets wide, and then take it to court on something illegal but unrelated to the case in question. However, the prosecution does not get the seriousness of the matter when it treats the illegal lobbying as the main issue and the slush funds as a sideshow. The people will not approve if the prosecution does not reveal the whole of the case now that they've seen hints of what it looks like.
It was just a year ago when the big conglomerates called on president Roh Moo Hyun and signed a "transparent society pact," saying they were ready to reflect on their illegal presidential campaign donations. If one of the country's most prominent jaebeols was buying special privileges with illegitimate money, it needs to be convicted by the courts. The prosecution needs to determine how much illegal money went to whom, and for what purpose. Naturally, those involved need to be questioned, whoever they may be.
The Hankyoreh, 29 March 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Be Thorough About Hyundai Slush Funds |
