Rep. Lee Sang-soo To Be Summoned Again on January 17

The Supreme Public Prosecutors Office, which has been investigating a case of illegal fundraising during the presidential election campaign, announced on January 14 that it would bring Rep. Lee Sang-soo of the Uri Party in for questioning on January 17. Lee had worked as a head of the general affairs division for then-presidential candidate Roh Moo-hyun’s election planning committee in 2002.

The prosecution plans to investigate additional allegations that Lee was involved in the collection of illegal presidential election funds and improper use of funds. This will be the first appearance of Lee since two months in November last year, and the fourth case summoned by the prosecution.

In addition, the prosecutors will also investigate Lee’s personal finances, taking into consideration that he had been in charge of raising and managing the campaign’s funds.

The prosecution will question Lee to try and determine if illegal campaign contributions from Daewoo Engineering & Construction, which were raised separately by Ahn Hee-jung and Rep. Chyung Dae-chul who are both currently being detained, were actually managed, and for what purposes if they were.

Regarding the 11.2 billion won in bonds that the Samsung Group allegedly offered to the Grand National Party, prosecutors are leaning towards the possibility that Rep. Kim Young-il, the former chairman of the election planning committee for then-candidate Lee Hoi-chang, may not have spent the Samsung bonds yet and may still be in possession of the bonds handed to him by attorney Seo Jung-woo. They are currently tracking the whereabouts of these bonds.

The prosecution also suspects that Kim might have misused 1,070 million won, comprised of bonds worth 570 billion won and certificates of deposit worth 500 million won received from the Kumho Group, by either storing them or changing them into cash.

Wi-Yong Jung Tae-Hoon Lee viyonz@donga.com jefflee@donga.com