Part of 2.4 Bill. Won of Song`s Money May Ended Up in Hong-Gul

The second investigative office (chief prosecutor Cha Dong-Min) of the Seoul District Public Prosecutor`s Offic is further investigating on May 9 whether the third son of President Kim Dae-Jung, Hong-Gul, has received more money, in addition to the three hundred million Won delivered in March last year, from CEO of Future City Environment Choi Kyu-Sun.

The prosecution`s investigation is based on a highly probable scenario that some of the 2.4 billion Won, which had been delivered to Choi when CEO of Tiger Pools International (TPI) Song Jae-Bin sold 200 thousand TPI shares to six POSCO affiliated companies in the amount of 7 billion Won, may have finally ended up in the hand of Hong-Gul.

The prosecution called in two related persons of POSCO in the day to probe the circumstance of purchasing TPI stocks and has a plan to re-summon POSCO CEO Yoo Sang-Boo on May 10 to question him whether he illegally interfered in the purchasing process of POSCO affiliates and whether the stocks are purchased at a premium.

In other hand, the prosecution said it was checking the correspondences of the four e-mail accounts of Mr. Choi, after being authorized to tap them by the court.

A brother-in-law of Hong-Gul, Hwang In-Don, once testified in the prosecution, `Mr. Choi said he corresponded with a son of former president of the Grand National Party (GNP) Chung-Yeon by e-mails.`

The prosecution also said that it was tracing related accounts to check the claim of Rep. Sul Hoon of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) who said, `Mr. Choi transferred 250 million Won to former GNP president Lee through GNP Rep. Yoon Yoi-Joon in December last year,` and also the prosecution was checking whether Choi had exchanged Won currency to the US dollars.

The prosecution said, `We will decide the day to call in Rep. Yoon depending on the situation of investigation.`

The prosecution said, in relation to the claim of Rep. Sul that there was an audio tape recording the conversation between Rep. Yoon and Choi when Choi delivered 200 thousand dollars, `So far such an audio tape has not been obtained, and no substantiating statement is gathered neither.`

In other hand, the third son of President Kim Dae-Jung, Hong-Gul, who has denied he received three hundred million Won (three hundred bank notes in denominations of one million Won), admitted receiving money recently according to a source of the Blue House on May 9.

A related person in the Blue House relayed, `Hong-Gul said initially he did not remember, but now he seems faintly remembering things,` and added, `Since Hong-Gul was very much acquainted with Mr. Choi, Hong-Gul may have thought the money was not `a stinking stuff` and used to spend the money while depositing it in an account.`

However, the related person has not exposed the expenditure details of the money Hong-Gul received.

Additionally, the related person, concerning the appearance of Hong-Gul before the prosecution, said, `The prosecution is expecting to appoint a defense lawyer to discuss with the lawyer the summoning date and other matters related with Hong-Gul,` and added, `The Blue House has preliminarily picked up a lawyer.`

Hong-Gul once denied the claim of Choi who disclosed the money dealing with Hong-Gul in a press conference on April 9, saying via the presidential secretary office for civilian affairs, `The claim of Choi is far distanced from the true, and I have not been supported with money by Choi.`

Myoung-Gun Lee Sang-Rok Lee gun43@donga.com myzodan@donga.com