Investigation on Campaign Slush Funds Continue

The Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Public Prosecutors` Office today summoned Rep. Kim Young-iel, who had managed the GNP presidential campaign.

“I am ashamed of having caused public concern involving the slush fund issue,” Rep. Kim in the afternoon that day said to journalists at the prosecutors` office before he met the prosecutors. “I will never avoid legal responsibilities, if any.”

The prosecution interrogated him over how the GNP received and spent 10 billion won from SK, over whether the party accepted slush funds from other companies, and over whether the senior members of the party were informed of the campaign funds.

The prosecution reportedly investigated the allegation that Rep. Kim instructed the former GNP financing manager Lee Jae-hyun, who is under custody, to scrap the documents on the illicit campaign funds.

Rep. Na Oh-yeon of the GNP, who refused to submit the relevant documents, announced he would “provide as many documents as Rep. Lee Sang-soo of the Uri Party did.” The prosecution will probe into the documents as soon as it gets them.

At the same time, the prosecution is investigating bank accounts of several large companies other than the five major conglomerates (Samsung, LG, SK, Hyundai Motors and Lotte.) Prosecutors gained clues that Kang Keum-won, the chairman of a Busan-based textile company, gave hundreds of millions of won to President Roh’s friend from home. The prosecution will summon him tomorrow to investigate how he sent the money.

Tae-Hoon Lee Jin-Kyun Kil jefflee@donga.com leon@donga.com