Additional 10 Billion Won of Chun’s Secret Funds Discovered

Additional secret funds totaling more than 10 billion won have been traced by the prosecution to former president Chun’s possession, apart from the 16.7 billion won secret fund of Chun Jae-yong.

The central investigation department in the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office reported on February 19 that they have tracked an account of more than 10 billion won listed under three names, including Chang, then secretary of the former president, while tracing Chun’s bonds.

The prosecution confirmed that 60 million won of this fund was used to repair Chun’s residence in Yeonhui-dong, Seoul, and for other private purposes. The investigation into the account was initiated since it is highly likely that it is another secret money account that Chun had hidden.

However, Chang and Kim, who have managed the account, had left for the U.S. in October last year when the tracking of the bonds was initiated, so the prosecution was not able to fully confirm its relationship to former president Chun.

The prosecution sent an investigation team comprised of four prosecutors to Chun’s residence at 1:00 p.m. the same day. They investigated how 7.3 billion won of secret money flowed into Chun Jae-yong’s secret fund account of 16.7 billion won and whether there are additional secret funds.

Former president Chun was fined a 220.5 billion won penalty tax in 1997 at the Supreme Court but has returned only 33.3 billion won, making the tax collection 84.9 percent short.

Tae-Hoon Lee jefflee@donga.com