What Chris Kim Might Produce to Support His Allegations

Chris Kim will reportedly arrive in Korea on November 17. Kim has alleged that Grand National Party (GNP) candidate Lee Myung-bak helped him manipulate the price of BBK shares in the market.

Prosecutors and politicians are holding their breath, awaiting what Kim’s extradition might do to the current presidential race.

In the six years since he fled to the United States in 2001, Kim reportedly has examined documents and records related to BBK and the firm Optional Ventures.

The DA’s office expects Kim to produce some of the documents to support his allegations, for example, that GNP candidate Lee was involved in the price manipulation. If his allegations are proven to be true, the documents may significantly affect the future investigation.

Kim’s options–

When authorities began to look into the possible price manipulation of Optional Ventures shares in 2001, Kim forged a passport and fled to the United States. Since then, he has remained in America and has had relevant documents delivered to him across the Pacific.

Kim’s “return” comes at a time when the presidential election is about 30 days away. Thus, experts believe that Kim intends to produce documents that are favorable to him, but harmful to Lee.

Legal experts expect that Kim will produce documents such as a copy of, if any, a secret written agreement with Lee attesting to Lee’s ownership of BBK, instruments showing how and why Lee’s brother and brother-in-law invested 19 billion won in that company, and/or transcripts of his conversations with Lee.

Issues facing the prosecution–

To minimize the harmful impact on the election, authorities have tracked relevant banking transactions regarding the allegations. Based on those records, they will question Kim and determine whether or not his documents support his allegations.

The DA’s office will refer any documents that Kim may produce upon his return to the National Institute of Scientific Investigation. Chris Kim has a long history of forgery. He has forged passports seven times and corporate certificates of good standing 19 times. Thus, the authorities want to verify the integrity of any documents he might produce.

It usually takes about a week to check the genuineness of a document. Once proven genuine, the prosecution is likely to summon candidate Lee for questioning. But if proven otherwise, Kim’s allegations will lose steam, putting an end to the case.

The prosecution also will prevent Kim from contacting the media. Back in 2002, Kim Dae-up made blatant allegations against the GNP candidate at the time, which devastated the candidate. Therefore, the DA’s office is trying not to repeat the same mistake.

A senior prosecutor close to the case confirmed this concern, saying, “If Kim alleges something and the media records it and relays it to the public, it will tip the balance in the upcoming election, no matter what we find out at the end.”

To maintain this “gag order,” authorities plan to send a team of investigators to Los Angeles, headed by a prosecutor. They are also thinking about other ways to maintain the confidentiality of the investigation by, for example, booking multiple flights for Kim or bringing him back to Korea via a third country.

dnsp@donga.com needjung@donga.com