Ahn Funds Provided by YS?

Opinions sprang up that the Ahn funds were handed to Rep. Kang Sam-jae, then-secretary general of the Grand National Party (GNP), directly by former President Kim Young-sam (YS) during his term.

The Ahn funds, originally part of the budget allocated to the National Security Planning Dept. (current National Intelligence Agency), was misused by Rep. Kang and others for the New Korea Party, the former body of the GNP, as campaign funds.

Chung In-bong, defending lawyer for Rep. Kang, said in a press interview on January 13, “Rep. Kang said that YS gave him 100 million checks with amounts ranging from several billion won to 20 billion won when he was often visiting the president’s office in Cheong Wa Dae to report on the party affairs before the 1996 general election.”

Mr. Chung said, “We did not confirm this with YS, but we have specific evidence that will be handed in to the court,” and hinted that YS could stand in the court related to this saying, “We have to discuss with the defense counsel regarding the request of his testimony, but the chance is still there.”

Park Jong-woong, the former president’s representative, refuted, “This opinion has been held by the defenders from a year ago, and this is not new,” and added, “It is nonsense that they try to investigate YS regarding the Ahn funds as part of political retribution.”

The Central Investigation Agency of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office headed by Senior Prosecutor Ahn Dae-hee said, “It is for sure that the funds were from the National Security Planning Dept.’s account,” and added, “We have no plans so far to investigate the former president.”

Prosecutor Ahn said, “Mr. Chung’s remark in the press interview is not legally valid, and we need the testimony from Rep. Kang to initiate investigation related to his remark.”

The prosecution plans to finalize the investigation on the Ahn funds by summoning Rep. Kim Duk-ryong of the GNP who has allegedly misused the 25.7 billion won budget of the National Security Planning Dept. during his term as secretary general of the Democratic Liberation Party in the 1995 regional election. And the possibility of the investigation regarding the Mr. Chung’s remark is not substantial.

Soo-Kyung Kim skkim@donga.com