Former Chairman Lee Gives Impression That He Didn’t Know About the Illegal Fund Raising in Detail

The central investigation team at the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office (chief prosecutor Ahn Dae-hee) asked Lee Hoi-chang, the former chairman of Grand National Party (GNP) who attended voluntarily, in general about the illegal fund raising for the presidential election last year by the GNP and Lee’s private campaign camp on December 15.

Former chairman Lee arrived at the prosecutors’ office at 10:40 a.m. and was interrogated after having a press conference at the GNP office in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul in the same morning. Lee returned home after the inquiry in the evening.

The prosecutors asked Lee whether or not he ordered the illegal fund raising to Rep. Choi Don-woong of GNP and attorney Seo Jeong-woo who was his legal advisor, and whether or not he was informed about the inflow and use of 50.2 billion won from Samsung, LG, SK, and Hyundai Motors.

Chairman Lee reportedly kept saying, “I am to blame for all the faults” through the entire interrogation but could not respond properly to the detailed questions about the funds.

Moon Hyo-nam, the chief investigation planner at the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office, said, “Although we’re not in the stage to summon former chairman Lee, we asked Lee as much as we could because he attended voluntarily. However, Lee gave an impression that he didn’t know about the GNP’s illegal fund raising in detail.”

For that reason, the prosecutors had Lee return home after receiving only a reference statement. The prosecutors plan to summon him again and decide whether or not and, if so, how much he is responsible, if necessary, after they reveal the truth about the illegal fund raising activities of the GNP.

Meanwhile, the prosecutors decided to send a summons to Rep. Choi, who refused to attend the prosecutors’ office many times and against whom the arrest warrant was filed, at 11 a.m. on December 16.

The prosecutors will ask Rep. Choi if he received an order from the leaders of the GNP while he collected 50.2 billion won in illegal money from the big companies including Samsung, LG, SK, and Hyundai Motors.

viyonz@donga.com jefflee@donga.com