Security agency involvement, money laundering issues linger
The prosecution announced Friday the results of its months-long probe into disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk, but they denied any involvement of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) in initially taking measures to assert Dr. Hwang's innocence.
"We confirmed that the NIA was not part of the process in helping [Dr. Hwang's associate] Ahn Cu-rie and a YTN cable news network reporter visit the U.S., except for dispatching a driver," the prosecution said.
Last year's visit by a delegation led by Dr. Ahn was said to be designed to set up the interview with Kim Sun-jong, Dr. Hwang's key associate at the University of Pittsburgh, in order to counter a media report that Dr. Hwang's research was fraudulent. Dr. Ahn was said to deliver 30,000 USD to Mr. Kim during the visit. Following the visit, Mr. Kim went on YTN and denied the allegations against Dr. Hwang's research. Suspicions circulated that the NIA was behind the contact, including arrangement of the visit, in order to defend the validity of Dr. Hwang's research. The NIA had kept Dr. Hwang under close guard before the scandal broke out. Dr. Hwang's stem cell research was considered a crucial research project to affect the future of Korea.
Specifically, an NIA official was suspected of providing the money to Dr. Ahn before her departure for the U.S., asking her to deliver it to Mr. Kim. In an e-mail interview with a local newspaper, Dr. Ahn confirmed that the agent gave her 30,000 USD.
"We summoned the NIA official twice and questioned him about the allegation. But we could not confirm anything," a prosecution official said. The NIA calls the allegation groundless.
The interview with Mr. Kim, aired on YTN, contradicted prior allegations raised by MBC, another news network, over the authenticity of Dr. Hwang's stem cell research. After Dr. Hwang was indicted, the YTN broadcast raised issues of journalistic ethics.
Intensive Investigation
The prosecution launched its probe four months ago, with 63 investigators, including 9 prosecutors, working on the case. They employed a lie-detector test, which confirmed that Dr. Hwang was deceived by Mr. Kim, who also confessed he was behind the fabrication of key data, the prosecution said. The final charges levied against Dr. Hwang were fraud, embezzlement, and breach of South Korea's life ethics law.
Kim's Obstruction
Kim Sung-jong was also found to have obstructed Dr. Hwang's other research, sources said. A prosecutor close to the investigation said that Mr. Kim smuggled human stem cells into Dr. Hwang's lab, trying to make them resemble the dog stem cell on which Dr. Hwang had focused his research in August last year.
A suicide attempt by Mr. Kim also made waves during the investigation. Mr. Kim, after learning that an MBC network investigative program had obtained samples of somatic cells from Dr. Hwang's lab, swallowed 20 sleeping pills. He was found unconscious and was hospitalized. Mr. Kim said he took the medication because he was having trouble sleeping.
Money laundering
The probe also found that Dr. Hwang was quite efficient in money laundering, though investigation resulted in no formal charges. Dr. Hwang is suspected of having laundered 125 million won (125,000 USD) in cash in December 2001, using four different banks to avoid detection.
The money was part of 400 million won in donations that he received for stem cell research. Four months later, sources say, Dr. Hwang again employed the same methods to launder more cash.
Over the last five years, Dr. Hwang may have pocketed a total of 592 million won from nine bank accounts registered under his brother-in-law and staff researchers, sources at the prosecution say. The prosecution charged that Dr. Hwang relied on massive cash deposits and withdrawals instead of using electronic transfers, carrying large bags of cash from one bank to another. These efforts were made to avoid the tracking of his transactions.
In Sept. 2005, Dr. Hwang received 1 billion won in research funds from the SK Group and immediately withdrew 700 million won out of the funds to create a savings account of his own, the prosecution elaborated. The prosecution also revealed that a sum of 40 million won out of the combined 810 million won paycheck cut for his staff researchers went straight to Dr. Hwang's personal account via a borrowed name.
The prosecution said that Dr. Hwang was shrewd enough to manage financial resources from all different sources under one bank account, thus making it hard to track the bottom line of his public research funds, overhead expenses, and personal income. This confusion worked to his advantage, the prosecution explained, as he was able to withdraw 54.9 million won for political donations, 16 million won for personal gifts, and 26 million won to buy his wife a new car. "We were not able to indict him on embezzlement charges in this case due to the blurry nature of the financial sources," the prosecution said.
Throughout the four-month investigation, Dr. Hwang's supporters have staged daily candlelight vigils, showing their unwavering trust for the disgraced scientist.
"When word came out that we grilled Dr. Hwang harshly, there were fierce demonstrations," a prosecutor recalled.
