Blackmailer Goes Behind Bars

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office indicted yesterday 38-year-old Jang for threatening "H" Corporation to disclose its “bribery list for public servants,” similar to the Samsung slush fund scandal.

After obtaining internal documents of "H" corporation by logging on to another employee’s email account in 2005, Jang, a manager of an subsidiary of "H" Corporation, blackmailed five company executives a total of 21 times, saying, “If you don’t give me money, I will make public the document.”

He is also charged with opening an email account for his crime under a borrowed name and resident registration number.

The list in question is known to be documents containing the names of civil servants who had received “palm oil for traditional holidays.” Jang started blackmailing in November 2007, when Samsung’s in-house lawyer Kim Yong-cheol blew the whistle on Samsung’s alleged slush funds.

Last November, he emailed financial director Kim of "H"| Corporation and demanded 1 billion won, saying, “If you don’t want a Samsung style whistle-blowing, you’ve got to come up with an agreement.” He also threatened to pass the list to the Catholic Priests` Association for Justice.

Jang continued emailing until this past February but was arrested when the company reported to police.

dnsp@donga.com