Tax chief says 1994 press audit file gone

The ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) and opposition Grand National Party (GNP) continued their partisan duel Monday over tax audits of media firms, specifically over questions of what became of a report on the 1994 investigation of such firms and whether to launch a parliamentary inquiry into the current audit.

GNP president Lee Hoi-Chang urged party members in a rally held at its Yoido headquarters to denounce "the press-taming scheme of Kim Dae-Jung`s dictatorial regime" and said he is ready to agree to a parliamentary probe of the 1994 audit if the ruling party accepts his demand for a similar inquiry into the ongoing investigation. "I myself would answer questions for the probe if it became necessary," Lee said, indicating that he would serve as a witness and give testimony based on information he had as prime minister at the time of the audit in question.

Calling for an apology from President Kim Dae-Jung and a halt to the ongoing tax audit, the opposition leader claimed the probe and a related examination by the Fair Trade Commission were meant to muzzle some local media outlets. MDP spokesman Kim Young-Hwan countered that the current investigation has only begun and has yet to produce any tangible results.

"The opposition leader`s offer of a conditional parliamentary probe is only meant to avoid a parliamentary inquiry into the 1994 tax audit, for which clear testimony and evidence are available," he said.

The spokesman added, however, that it would be possible to carry out simultaneous parliamentary probes into documents uncovered late last year that suggest the GNP was attempting to sway the next presidential election and documents recently revealed by the Sisa Journal implying that the MDP was trying to tame the press.

Meanwhile, National Tax Service Commissioner Ahn Jung-Nam reported to the National Assembly Finance-Economy Committee that the bulk of the documentation pertaining to the 1994 audit, including papers on planning and interim findings, was missing.

Song In-Soo issong@donga.com