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Former president Lee Myung-bak leaves the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on the morning of Mar. 15 following a 21-hour questioning session with prosecutors. (Photo Pool)
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Charges range from accepting bribes, evading taxes and misuse of public funds
On Mar. 19, South Korean prosecutors asked the court to issue a detention warrant for former president Lee Myung-bak. The second special investigation division, under senior prosecutor Song Gyeong-ho, and the first high-tech crimes investigation division, under senior prosecutor Shin Bong-su at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, listed more than 10 counts of six crimes on their request for a warrant against Lee. The crimes are accepting bribes, evading taxes and misuse of public funds under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes; embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes; infringing on the exercise of rights by abusing authority; and violating the Presidential Records Management Act. “After assessing how DAS was established, how funds were raised, how decisions were made and who received company profits, we concluded that the company belongs to Lee Myung-bak,” said a source with the prosecutors’ office. As a consequence, they are charging Lee with embezzling more than 35 billion won (US$33 million) and over three billion won (US$2.8 million) in tax evasion. The amount of money embezzled includes not only what Lee’s wife, Kim Yoon-ok, spent on a company credit card but also a Hyundai Equus under the company name that Lee rode for free in 1999 after personally ordering then company president Kim Seong-u to provide him with the vehicle. In addition to DAS, the bribery charges against Lee amount to 11.15 billion won. These include DAS legal fees paid by Samsung (6.8 billion won; US$6.3 million), as well as money received from former Woori Financial Group chairman Lee Pal-sung (2.25 billion won; US$2.1 million), the National Intelligence Service’s (NIS) special activity fund (700 million won; US$650,000), the Daebo Group (500 million won), a donation for a political appointment (400 million won; US$370,000), Nungin Sunwon (300 million won; US$280,000) and ABC Sangsa (200 million won; US$190,000). “Each and every one of the charges pertain to serious crimes that require Lee to be detained during the investigation, and we concluded that these charges have been amply demonstrated by objective evidence, including bank account records, company books, reports and computer files, as well as by testimony of key people involved in these events. But considering that Lee has denied the facts of the case and has continued to rehearse his testimony until recently, there are also serious concerns that evidence will be destroyed,” said the prosecutor, who asked to be unnamed. “The resources of the state, including the political prosecutors, have been fully mobilized to take down Lee Myung-bak. We will do our best to bring the truth to light in court,” Lee’s secretariat said in a statement released on Mar. 19. By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
