Former President Roh’s Slush Fund is Found

The central investigation body (head: Director Park Sang-gil) of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office revealed on March 29 that it found the slush fund of 7.3 billion won handled by former president Roh Tae-woo, which was deposited into an account under a false name. After being taxed, about 1.64 billion won was left, which was withdrawn to the national treasury. The former president was charged an additional 262.89 billion won when indicted for the slush fund scandal in 1995.

Thanks to this additional collection, the amount of money returned to the public increased from 207.51 billion won to 209.15 billion won, and the additional collection rate is now 79 percent.

Prosecutors said that they recently tracked down 3.1 billion won of the slush fund that former president Roh Tae-woo handled since February 1993, using the false name: Lee Du-cheol, who does not even exist. The money had been maintained as a type of trust deposit in a local bank.

Taking into account the interest accumulated on the fund over the last 12 years, the slush fund has grown to 7.39 billion won.

jin0619@donga.com