Roh`s Close Advisor Ahn Hee-chung Charged

Yesterday, a special division of the prosecution decided to indict Ahn Hee-chung, one of President Roh’s close advisors, for taking illegal political donations from former Bosung Chairman Kim Ho-june. According to the DA`s office, he allegedly received 200 million from Kim.

The prosecution also indicted another powerful political figure, Yum Dong-yon on aggravated bribery charges. He reportedly received 288 million from the Bosung Group in return for pulling strings regarding the case which was pending in court at the time.

The DA`s office has verified that Ahn invested the 200 million into the mineral water company "Oasis Water." Later, the company was sold and some of the proceeds were funneled into a local political ‘lab’ founded by President Roh. The investigative body is looking into the case.

Yesterday morning, the prosecution told reporters that "the political ‘lab’ had dipped into the 200 million Ahn received from Kim on a regular basis." In the afternoon however, it corrected the briefing and said that "some of the proceeds were channeled into the political ‘lab.’”

"We set up the mineral water company to fund the local political ‘lab’”, Ahn reportedly stated before the prosecution. “The company, however, failed to earn any profits, and just ran up debts. So, we sold the company in March of 2001, and used some of the proceeds for operation of the ‘lab’.”

The DA`s office confirmed that Yum received a total of 288 million in the form of a "cash gift" and wire transferred that money over five occasions from September 1999 to February 2000.

Former Bosung Chairman Kim gave this money to Yum in return for Yum`s favor towards Bosung affiliates. In February 2000, right after the application of composition, Kim asked Yum to pull strings to have the court accept the motion for composition.

Yum is now alleging that he used some of the money for personal purposes, and invested the rest in the stock market. The prosecution however does not exclude the possibility that some of the bribe money was used for buying favors among government officials and politicians to prevent Nara Bank from filing bankruptcy.

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