A Witness: “Good Money Send One Billion Won in Two Batches to the Roh Camp”

A new testimony surfaced on February 12 in a National Assembly hearing on illicit presidential electoral campaign funds and at least partly corroborated allegations that a private lender, Good Money, gave three billion won in illicit funds to then-candidate Roh Moo-hyun’s camp during the presidential race.

The aftershock of the controversy has yet to further ripple out as the opposition Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) said it would attempt to start parliamentary investigations and to appoint a special prosecutor to fully study the allegations.

“I saw company employees, on the order from company president Kim Young-hoon, put two billion won in cash into five bags (one billion won) twice in late November and December in 2002 and deliver them to him in the employees’ personal vehicles,” said Kim Jin-hee, the woman who was responsible for raising seed fund for Good Money, in the hearing at the National Assembly’s legislation and judiciary committee.

“As much as 50 billion won changed hands. I believed someone at the top was behind all this,” Kim said. “I later heard that the money was delivered to Rep. Shin Gye-ryun, who was candidate Roh’s chief of staff.”

When Rep. Cho Jae-hwan asked if she had heard CD-ROM recordings of President Roh saying “thank you” [to Good Money’s Kim Young-hoon], the woman answered, “I heard some of them. I cannot tell the content of them.” Asked whether or not she has the CD-ROMs by reporters after the hearing, Kim answered, “I have some.”

“I know Mr. Kim and have met with him. From September 2002 through February 25 2003, when I served as then-candidate Roh’s chief of staff and then-president-elect’s chief of staff as well as personnel adviser, I have never delivered a penny for the primaries, for the presidential race, or for the celebration of his election as president to him.” He said he would seek legal recourse for the matter.

MDP floor leader Yoo Yong-tae said in a meeting with MDP lawmakers, “Because of the pro-president Uri Party’s violent disruption, its systematic blocking of witnesses from attending the hearings and major witnesses’ no-show, the hearings fell short of public expectations.” He said, “With parliamentary probes and another special prosecutor, we will disclose the truth.”

In related news, Dongwon Industries chairman Kim Jae-cheol dismissed Rep. Kim Kyung-jae’s allegations of Dongwon Industries’ illegal contribution of five billion won to Roh’s campaign funds, saying, “I have never offered illicit political donations, not even a penny.”

Yong-Gwan Jung Myoung-Gun Lee yongari@donga.com gun43@donga.com