Lobbyist bribes former ruling party lawmaker

A lobbyist for French Alstom's TGV high-speed railway system allegedly offered bribes to a former ruling party lawmaker with money he received from Alstom as a commission, it was revealed Wednesday.

Choe Man-Sok, now on the police wanted list as the main suspect in the TGV lobbying sandal, received 8.8 billion won or 1 percent of the total supply price of TGV rolling stocks as a lobbying commission and agreed to give 40 percent of his share to then-lawmakers Hwang Myung-Soo and Choi Hyung-Woo of the New Democratic Party.

These facts were disclosed by court trial records and the prosecution investigation of Ho Ki-Chun, who was arrested on suspicions of receiving 3 billion won from Choe after introducing Choe to Alstom.

According to the written opinion the prosecution submitted to the court, Ho testified that he arranged a meeting between the two then-lawmakers and Alstom officials who wanted to meet them in order to confirm Choe's lobbying ability.