Prosecutors to Release BBK Report By Wednesday

The special investigation team at the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office probing Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak’s links to the BBK stock price manipulation case is planning to announce its investigation results no later than Wednesday when it will indict the disgraced financier Kim Kyung-joon, according to sources Sunday.

It is said the prosecution, which has reportedly received the analysis results of the authenticity of the Korean-language contract that Kim submitted from the document examination section of the Supreme Prosecutors` Office, has started working on a statement regarding its investigation outcome.

A prosecution official hinted that the prosecution’s announcement may be made at an earlier time depending on the progress of its investigation. He said, “The findings will be announced by December 5 at the latest.”

The prosecution will announce the details of its investigation into Kim’s violation of securities trading law; Kim’s embezzlement and forging of documents; auto parts maker DAS’s accusation against Kim’s fraud; and the United New Democratic Party’s claim of stock price manipulation by Lee.

With regard to the claim that Lee is the real owner of a piece of real estate in Dogok-dong, Seoul, which became a subject of controversy during the GNP primary, Kim Hong-il, a senior prosecutor at the Seoul District Prosecutors’ Office, said, “The case was already concluded in August. Why would (the prosecution) go over an already closed case?”

According to sources, a lawyer who was reportedly present at the time that Lee and Kim signed their English-language contracts in February 2001, told prosecutors, “I (didn’t know) about the existence of the Korean-language contract and couldn’t get access to its content. I was not there (when the Korean-language contract was made).” The statement of the lawyer, who is practicing in the U.S. and only identified as Kim, contradicts Erica Kim’s claim that lawyer Kim agreed to the Korean-language contract at the time of its writing.

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