Is Brother of Kim Sang-jin Key to Bribe Case?

The prosecution is investigating a bribe case involving Jeong Yun-jae, 43, a former presidential secretary, and Kim Sang-jin, owner of a construction company located in Busan, and is expected to question the brother of Kim who introduced Jeong to Kim five or six years ago.

A source from the prosecution explained yesterday that they have no plans to summon Kim’s brother right now, saying that, “It is too early to call Kim’s brother because we haven’t finished questioning Kim Sang-jin yet.”

However, given the fact that Kim’s brother is the one who introduced Kim to Chung, it seems inevitable that they will summon Kim’s brother sooner or later.

Even though it was recently reported that Kim has become estranged from his brother, they have often worked together: In 2005 when Kim assumed the reconstruction project of P Apartments located in Yeonsan 8-dong, Busan, his brother was a senior manager of Kim’s company, and was also involved in the apartment demolition work.

Because Haneul Development, a company that is owned by Kim’s brother, is in the same building with Kim’s office in Bugok-dong, Busan, there are suspicions that Haneul Development is deeply involved in the project in question.

However, Kim’s brother denied this charges in a phone interview with Dong-A Ilbo, saying, “I have no idea how my brother started this and how he pushed ahead with the project.”

On the other hand, since last month, when Jeong Sang-gon, former director of the real estate taxation bureau of the National Tax Service, was arrested, there were some changes in their companies.

According to official documents, except for Harim Construction and Juseong Construction, which were closed down earlier this year, three other companies owned by the Kim brothers, Ilgeon, Sky City, and Haneul Development, changed their names respectively to UCD, UCD International, and UCD Park last month. Changing names means that they became affiliate companies.

The changes to the companies’ names occurred after Kim was released on August 27 and Jeong was arrested on August 7. Since Kim was scheduled to sign a contract with P Company, constructor of P Apartments, in October, Kim seems to have attempted to maximize profits by finishing up his business in regard to the reconstruction project before the trial began.

A source from the construction industry said that, “Kim, who is aware that he will be under restrictions by the prosecution due to a large amount of money he got from embezzling, seems to have attempted to complete the reconstruction while a review of the legality of his confinement was going on.

Meanwhile, to avoid interviews with press companies, Kim had his cellular phone and the telephone in his office suspended, and when reporters who didn’t know his face visited his office, Kim just said to them, “He is not in now” as if he was one of Kim’s employees.

Kim’s brother also has cut his connections with others. And Jeong, a former presidential secretary, is giving his second lecture to students in the Department of International Relations of Silla University tomorrow.

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