Roh’s Aides Took 50 million for Primary Elections

The Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office confirmed on Sunday that Ahn Hee-jung, a former aide to President Roh Moo-hyun, had accepted 50 million dollars in illegal funds for the presidential primary from Daewoo Engineering and Construction (Daewoo E&C) in March 2002.

Mr. Ahn is accused of taking a total of 175 million dollars from Daewoo E&C.

He will be indicted on additional charges of accepting kickbacks of 200 million dollars from two local companies each in April and August.

Prosecutors have determined that Choi Do-sool, another aide of Present Roh, took 47 million dollars, including 21 million from Samsung Corporation in exchange for favorable treatment when he was Blue House Chief Secretary. The prosecutors are investigating other allegations of bribery in which he was involved.

Several politicians are also expected to be summoned for investigation this week.

The prosecution gleaned information that Han Hwa-gap of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) and a few others collected illicit funds from SK, which will be investigated after the probe into presidential campaign funds has been completed.

Meanwhile, Seoul High Public Prosecutors` Office will launch an investigation into a complaint filed by the MDP against President Roh and Chung Dong-young, now the leader of the Uri Party, regarding illegal fundraising for MDP primary elections in 2002.

Tae-Hoon Lee jefflee@donga.com