GNP: Roh’s Nephew’s Firm Got 6.1B Won

Members of the Grand National Party are claiming the amount of money offered by the government and related authorities to Woojyun Systec surpasses 6.1 billion won. Roh Ji-won, President Roh’s nephew, was a director of the company.

A member of the GNP and Commerce, Industry and Energy Committee of the National Assembly, Kim Gi-hyeon, insisted on Monday that, “The Small Business Corporation gave Woojyun Systec as much as 5.55 billion won.” Separately, Choung Byoung-gug of the Culture and Tourism Committee revealed on Sunday that the company had received 600 million won of subsidies from the Ministry of Information and Communication.

Mr. Kim said the SBC offered 1.75 billion won for restructuring the business, 300 million won as small business venture capital, 500 million won as a subsidy for business stabilization, and 3.0 billion won for issuing Asset Backed Securities.

The SBC explained that, “The company has borrowed a total of 2.533 billion between 1998 and last year, including the loan of 1.6 billion won last year. It had borrowed the money to invest in facilities and utilize capital, but has already paid the debt.”

The Corporation maintained, “The 3.0 billion won funding for ABS issuance does not count as a subsidy from SBC.”

It explained the company acquired 18.7%, or 20.5 billion won worth of Shinyoung Securities Company’s bonds. Shinyoung had issued 110 billion won worth of corporate bonds last year. SBC’s acquisition helped to prop up credit ratings of 49 small businesses, and Woojyun Systec financed 3.0 billion won by issuing these bonds, contended the Corporation.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information and Communication also announced that it did offer the company 568 million won in April last year because it was named a beneficiary of the Ministry’s ‘Enhancing Industrial Competitiveness Project,’ a project to support small businesses with funding for technology development. However, it was not preferential treatment, added the ministry.

kimsunmi@donga.com