[Editorial] Who is telling a lie?

Our suspicions are mounting and we are growing profoundly confused about who was lying in the cross-examinations of Korea Digital Line (KDL) president Chung Hyun-Joon and Dongbang Mutual Savings & Finance vice-chairman Lee Kyong-Ja Monday at the parliament's political affairs standing committee.

The interrogations revealed sharp contradictions in their testimonies, which had the consequence of amplifying our suspicions instead of dispelling them.

The two witnesses gave contradictory accounts of the alleged power elites¡¯ involvement in the scandal. Chung stated that Lee confided to him that she knew many power elites. Chung also said that ruling Millennium Democratic Party Supreme Council member Kwon Roh-Kap and lawmaker Kim Hong-Il were among them. According to Chung, Lee also told him that she came to know these ruling elites under the auspices of Sinyang Factory president Oh. But Lee flatly denied this by saying that Chung was telling a blatant lie.

Chung's testimony has especially shocking accounts of how Lee insinuated him to invite Lee Yong-Keun, the ex-chairman of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), to assume chairmanship of the Korea Digital Line. This is suggestive enough about the possibilities of their lobbying activities to influence the FSS's senior officials. Chung even said he gave her a blank check for lobbying purposes. Lee also denied this point-blank.

Not only is there a discrepancy between the two persons' testimonies, but also some of their testimonial accounts are inconsistent with the contents of the prosecutors' briefings to the public. For example, the prosecutors explained that it is rather difficult to identify the real names of the people who joined Chung's private funds because they used borrowed names, but Chung stated that most of the people they solicited for his private funds were using their real names. Chung's testimony also indicated that large sums of money were mostly solicited by Lee to join his private funds.

We cannot make a rash judgment about who is lying here, because the prosecutors' investigations are not yet concluded. Nevertheless, due attention must be paid to the fact that Chung's statements have been fairly consistent. We are not in a position to know what Chung said to the prosecutors, but Chung has consistently stated that Lee was the person who played major roles in the lobbying of influential figures as well as soliciting them to join the fund. In sharp contrast with Chung, Lee is keeping her lips sealed or changing her story on important matters.

Yet, the prosecutors have given us the impression that they are concentrating their efforts on investigating not Lee but Chung and his associates. Worse still, Lee's cronies all fled overseas, including Sinyang Factoring president Oh and Dongbang president Yoo Cho-Woong, who was in charge of lobbying politicians and high government officials. The FSS's ex-chairman, Lee Yong-Keun, is also known to have left for the United States at the end of last month. It behooves the prosecutors to clarify who is telling lies here. This will exonerate them from the suspicion that they have abetted the key figures in their overseas escapes.