Lee In-je Received Big Money From Grand National Party

On February 20 at the investigation headquarters of the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office, Ahn Dae-hee, the head of public prosecutors, announced that they confirmed the suspicion that Lee In-je, acting chairman of the united liberal democrats, received 25 billion won illegally from the Grand National Party right before the general election. The public prosecutor decided to summon and investigate Lee early next week.

According to the announcement, illegal money was transferred in the beginning of December, 2002, right after Lee’s resignation from the Democratic Party and re-affiliation of himself with the United Liberal Democrats.

The public prosecutor released that it received testimonies of all persons concerned, which confirmed that Lee Byung-ki, political advisor to the then Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang, consulted with Kim Young-il, the then GNP secretary general, and gave 50 billion won to Kim Yoon-soo, Lee’s advisor of public information.

As a result of the investigation, Kim took two boxes containing 25 billion won from Lee, gave one to Kim Eun-sook, Lee’s wife, and intercepted 25 billion won. As revealed by the public prosecutor, Kim expended 25 billion won to pay off his own debts and for other expenses. The public prosecutor sought an arrest warrant for Kim.

The public prosecutor also sought an arrest warrant for Kim Young-hoon, former president of GoodMoney. Kim Jin-hee, who was in charge of fund-raising for Kim, has testified at the hearing, “before the general election, I give 20 billion won to the election camps of Roh Moo-hyun and so on.”

After being found to have loaned 544 billion won illegally from the local mutual savings firm in Kimchon, Kim has gone underground for about a year.

On the other hand, the public prosecutor investigated Shin Doon-in, president of Lotte Shopping, and Kim Byung-il, president of Lotte Hotel, because Shin Dong-bin, Lotte vice chairman, refused to respond to the summons.

Concerning Lee Joong-keun, chairman of the construction firm Buyoung, who is being investigated on charges of providing illegal campaign funds to the election camps of Roh, the public prosecutor will release him today and determine if they will seek an arrest warrant for him later, after considering other related cases of other businessmen together.

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