Cross-Examination for Lee’s Land Allegations

The Seoul Central Prosecutors` Office is said to have summonsed a member of the anti-corruption task force (TF) to investigate him as part of a probe into the former Seoul Mayor, Lee Myung-bak, on July 25.

The Office had investigated another member of the TF, who has been in charge of handling personal information held under government agencies. This time, the office extensively examined the set-up and management practice of the TF.

On July 25, Prosecutors have also held a cross examination of three men to identify the circumstances of how resident registration documents of Lee’s relatives had been copied. Those three men are Kwon O-han, a former senior policeman; Hong Yoon-sik, a former advocate of former Grand National Party (GNP) leader Park Geun-hye; and Lee Yeon-hong, a former political director of JoongAng Daily News; who arranged the meeting between the two.

In the meantime, Prosecutors probed Kim Man-je, former chairman of POSCO, in a 1998 audit in which he testified that he had been told by Mr. Kim, then POSCO executive director, that the land in Dogokg-dong, Seoul, belonged to Lee. Mr. Kim was summonsed and examined to identify the truth on July 25.

needjung@donga.com dnsp@donga.com