BAI to Investigate Vice Minister of Construction and Transportation

The Bureau of Audit and Inspection (BAI), which is probing suspicions over the investment of the Korea National Railroad (KNR, currently Korea Railroad) in Russian oil fields, announced that it would call for an investigation of Kim Se-ho, vice minister of Construction and Transportation and former head of the KNR.

An official at the BAI revealed the plan on April 4, saying, “There were three officials associated with oil projects at that time: Wang Young-yong, head of the project development division, Shin Kwang-soon, vice head of the KNR, and Kim Se-ho, head of the KNR.” He added, “As Vice Minister Kim was head of the railroad authorities until early September last year, he would have a good understanding of the initial stage of the project.”

However, the inspection bureau will decide later whether to investigate Uri lawmaker Lee Kwang-jae, who is said to be involved in the case, as it failed to confirm his involvement in a secret inspection conducted before it started the probe in earnest.

The BAI official said, “We are currently investigating Woori Bank as to how it extended a loan for a down payment to Korea Crude Oil (KCO), which was set up for oil field investment,” adding, “We will complete the probe into involved officials by this week and start to look into people in the private sector who are associated with the case starting next week.”

Accordingly, Jeon Dae-wol, chief representative for the High-End Group, which is known to have led the project as a co-investor of KCO, Kwon Kwang-jin, chief representative of Cook Energy, and Heo Moon-seok, a doctor in geology, will be subject to investigation within next week.

taewon_ha@donga.com