Prosecution Requested Arrest Warrant against Former Vice Minister of Justice

Seoul District Public Prosecutors Office, who is reinvestigating the `Jin Seung-Hyun Gate` requested to issue in advance the arrest warrant against former Vice Minister of Justice Shin Gwang-Ok on bribery charges that he received 18 million won from Choi, Taek-Gon, on 21st. Choi gave the money to Shin on behalf of Jin Seung-Hyun, the owner of MCI Korea, for asking special favors in relation to the investigations of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and of prosecution on Jin.

The prosecution announced that it will summon former Second Director of the National Intelligence Service Kim Eun-Sung for investigation on 10 am. 22nd. Kim is suspected of abuse of authority and bribery in connection with the Jin`s Gate.

Shin`s is allegedly received bribery on 6 times between March-October 2000, including 3 million won at a Japanese restaurant of P Hotel, Seoul. He received 18 million won in total.

The prosecution said, "The money was bribery because Shin received it in return for the leaking of the investigation information of the FSS and prosecution."

Choi testified that "I informed Shin that I was working as an adviser of the MCI Korea, and requested his favor for Jin`s business."

According to the prosecution, Shin, however, insisted that, "I never received any money from Choi and cannot remember whether I had met with Jin."

The prosecution temporarily released Shin around 10 am on 21st. The court is expected to issue a summons and review an arrest warrant against Shin in order to decide his arrest in the morning of 22nd.

An official of the prosecution said, "The investigation took time to secure circumstantial evidence through cross-examination without material evidence. We released Shin temporarily because the prosecution cannot hold investigation over 48 hours."

According to the prosecution, while there were opinions for non-arrest indictment against Shin due to the small amount of bribery, the prosecution decided to request for an arrest warrant by considering people`s sentiment.

Myoung-Gun Lee gun43@donga.com