Slush Fund up to Four Billion Managed

CEO of Future City Environment Inc., Choe Gyu-Seon (42 years old, see the picture), who disclosed that he gave several million Korean Won and U.S. dollars to the third son of President Kim Dae-Jung, Kim Hong-Gul, has been known to manage a slush fund of about 4 billion Won from March last year under a pseudo name.

The slush fund account managed by Mr. Choe has been opened in Samsung-Dong branch of S bank under a pseudo name account in the name of Ms. Park who is a wife of Cheon Ho-Young who was a secretary and driver of Mr. Choe. Mr. Cheon said, `As Mr. Choe requested me to lend account names on March last year, I let him use my wife`s name,` and added, `There are several more slush fund accounts belonging to Mr.Choe.`

Between March last year and March this year, an amount of four billion Won has been deposited into the pseudo name account of Mr. Choe in the name of Ms. Park, which has been disclosed by Mr. Cheon. Most of the money has been deposited with cash and depositors or sources are not recorded in most of the bank checks.

Especially it is confirmed that a bank check in the amount of one billion Won has been deposited to the account on April 25 last year, and further investigation showed that the check was issued from the main office of C bank, and there was no endorser on back of the check

Mr. Cheon claimed in a writing uploaded in an Internet homepage of a civic group on March 28, `Mr. Choe received one billion Won from a business man on late April last year and transferred the money to a relative of a high-positioned official.

Mr. Choe said in a press conference, retorting against the claim of Mr. Cheon, `I have never seen a check of billion Won nomination in my life.` Money laundering is suspected since the considerable amount among the money deposited to the pseudo name account of Mr. Choe is rerouted to an account of Mr. Yeom who has a personal relationship with Mr. Choe, and another 0.6 billion Won sent to the account of Mr. Park who is a secretary of Mr. Choe.

Accordingly, it seems inevitable that an investigation may follow on fund sources & expenditures, reasons why the slush fund is managed by a pseudo account, money laundering, and tax evasions.

Mr. Choe, who voluntarily asked for a press conference and disclosed cash deals with Kim Hong-Gul on April 9, was not available today for his comment.

Min-Hyuk Park mhpark@donga.com · Jin-Kyun Kil leon@donga.com