Politicians and Officials Related with TPI Lobbies to be Summoned This Week

The second special investigative office (chief prosecutor Cha Dong-Min) of the Seoul District Public Prosecutor`s Office, which arrested President Kim Dae-Jung`s third son Hong-Gul, will start to select the potential summoning targets including the ruling and opposition members of parliament in relation to the alleged lobby on political and official circles by Tiger Pools International (TPI) this week, according to an informed source on May 19.

The prosecution has a plan to summon and question a friend of President Kim`s second son Hong-Up Mr. Ohn, former personal secretary named Mr. Seong of a former representative-turned-minister, former president of commercial bank Mr. Kim, and former official of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) Mr. Chung. They have been scouted by TPI with hundreds of thousands stock options (stock purchase claim rights) during the period leading and following the revision of the related laws of lottery business and the selection of its operator.

Especially, TPI intensively contacted the representatives belonging to the Culture and Tourism Committee of the National Assembly and their aides right before the enactment of the selection related laws of the lottery project operator in 1998 and 1999, and scouted some of the aides to company executives or employees, according to the prosecution.

Additionally, the prosecution is known to have obtained evidence of frequent contacts CEO of TPI Song Jae-Bin made with high positioned officials in the MCT and the National Sports Promotion Foundation, right before the selection of the lottery operator, between December 2000 and January 2001.

Mr. Song had frequently taken telephone conversations with an unnamed person who can directly influence the operator selection, and the prosecution is known to obtain the physical evidence to prove the conversations.

Additionally, the prosecution is investigating on some evidence that former Seoul deputy mayor for political affairs Kim Hee-Wan, who is in hiding, received twenty thousand shares of TPI stock from Mr. Song through CEO of Future City Environment Choi Kyu-Sun in return for influence-peddling.

The prosecution considers it is very probable that former deputy mayor Kim might have lobbied directly to the politicians of both the ruling and opposition camps and related persons of the MCT and the foundation just before the selection of the lottery operator. In other hand, the prosecution arrested Hong-Gul on May 18 in charge of receiving 1.544 billion Won including 114 thousand shares of TPI and its affiliates from Mr. Song in return for influence peddling (taking money for mediation in violation of the Specified Crimes Aggravated Punishment Act). Hong-Gul was taken to the Seoul penitentiary located in Uiwang-Si, Kyounggi Province at 9:20 P.M. in the day.

Myoung-Gun Lee gun43@donga.com