Arrest Warrant Issued for Frm. Maritime Affairs Minister

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office requested yesterday an arrest warrant for 57-year-old Kang Moo-hyun, the former minister of maritime affairs and fisheries under the Roh Moo-hyun administration, on bribery charges.

Kang served as minister of the then Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries from May 2007 to February 2008. It was the first time that an arrest warrant was sought for a minister under the Roh administration for receiving bribes, since the launch of the Lee Myung-bak administration.

Whether a warrant will be issued or not will be decided after the Seoul Central District Court reviews the legality of confinement at 3 p.m. today.

Kang allegedly received a total of 90 million won from six or seven shipping companies during his tenure as the vice minister and the minister between October 2004 through February 2008.

Prosecutors said that he received 20-30 million won from two or three shipping companies and port authorities-related companies during his tenure as the minister in exchange for changing routes or giving a favor to their projects. Before that, as the vice minister, he regularly received millions of won from the rest of the companies.

Prosecutors recently found that Kang had a bank account under the name of his wife’s relative since 2004, from which more than 200 million won in checks and cash were transacted.

After confirming that most of the deposited money was from the shipping companies by tracing the bank account, prosecutors arrested the former minister Friday for investigation.

Meanwhile, prosecutors are also investigating whether several other government officials including presidential secretaries under the Roh administration received bribes through the vice chairman, who is identified only by his surname Lee (63, in custody), of a shipping company.

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