With jail sentence, Uri loses another seat

Ruling party gives up National Assembly seat after illegal fund scandal

The Supreme Court yesterday supported an initial ruling against ruling Uri Party’s Lee Ho-woong, who was sentenced to eight months in jail with a two-year stay of sentence along with a W150 million fine (US$156,000) for receiving illegal political funds from a construction company during the 2002 presidential campaign.

The two-term lawmaker, who is chairman of National Assembly Construction and Transportation Committee, has lost his Assembly seat under both election and National Assembly law. As a consequence, the ruling party now possesses 141 seats out of 299. The main opposition Grand National Party currently holds 126 seats.

According to the ruling, Lee received W150 million checks from a chairman of a construction company without getting a receipt at the Millennium Democratic Party building on Dec. 17, 2002. Lee then cashed the checks, the ruling said. Lee had been indicted without arrest on the charges.

As Lee also is director-general of a political group supporting Uri chairman Kim Geun-tae, who is a presidential hopeful, Rep. Kim and his supporters are expected to be hit seriously by the court’s ruling.