Prolonging Probe or Completing Early, “Standing at the Crossroads”

The investigation of the illegal presidential campaign fund-raising scandal is going to an extent which nobody had expected because of factors such as the opposition Grand National Party’s uncooperative attitude and the unstable political situation spurred by special probes which have played an important role in determining the fate of this scandal. Within the prosecution, this week is expected to be a turning point in deciding whether the investigation can be completed soon or not.

The prosecution, considering the facts that a couple of major conglomerates (or chaebols) are involved in the scandal, has decided early on that it is better to finish the investigation as soon as possible. This is the reason why the speed of the investigation has accelerated since last week when the investigation’s target expanded from SK Group to other conglomerates.

While comprehensively tracing approximately 10 bank accounts which were managed by the campaign camp for President Roh Moo-hyun, the then-presidential candidate of the Millennium Democratic Party, the prosecution is ready to probe the Grand National Party’s candidates (bank accounts) also. Furthermore, the prosecution has already found that some conglomerates furnished illegal campaign funds to politicians by raising slush funds and has issued a departure ban to the approximately 10 high-ranking officers from those conglomerates.

Regarding such an investigation being carried out in high gear, some sources in the prosecution interpreted that the prosecution is waging a total war to calm down the political stir and to prevent further expansion of the investigation by exacting tangible outcomes of the investigation as soon as possible.

The Central Investigation Department of Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office, in charge of the investigation, announced last Friday, “We have fully expressed that if they are cooperative with the investigation, we will be lenient to them”. Such a notice can be interpreted that the prosecution does not want to see the investigation delay any further.

However, it is too early to say that its actions will take effect soon because a number of obstacles are still hovering and can possibly dampen their anticipation.

First of all, it is a big burden to the prosecution that the opposition Grand National Party has retained its uncooperative attitude towards the investigation since the restriction of Lee Jae-hyun, a former GNP financial official.

Furthermore, the controversial bill on an independent counsel probe into the corruption scandals involving presidential aides, which was passed on last Friday, is expected to trigger serious political conflicts this week.

With prevailing pessimism on voluntary confession by politicians on the illegal campaign fund-raising scandal, if conglomerates, which are next targets for the investigation, such as Samsung, Hyundai Motor Company, Lotte, Doosan, and Poongsan, are reluctant to cooperate with the investigation, this will be another contributing factor in dampening the efforts to speed up the investigation.

However, such obstacles should not cause the prosecution to hold its hands. In this vein, there is a great likelihood that the prosecution will fully arm itself and dispatch agents to the large companies, which are the hotbeds of this illegal fund-raising scandal.

Tae-Hoon Lee jefflee@donga.com