‘1st Lady’s Cousin Spent W300 Mln for Personal Purposes’

Prosecutors said yesterday that first lady’s cousin Kim Ok-hee had 300 million won (300,000 U.S. dollars) withdrawn from her bank account March 24 before the candidate nomination process of the ruling Grand National Party began.

A prosecutor said Wednesday, “We confirmed that Kim deposited about three billion won received from Kim Jong-won, the head of Seoul’s Metropolitan Bus Transportation Union, into her bank account and withdrew 300 million won before the candidate nomination process.”

“We’ve discovered that the money was either used for personal purposes or sent to bank accounts of Kim’s relatives, including her son. So we are investigating if the money went to a third person.”

In addition to the 300 million won, prosecutors are also looking into where 400 million won left in her account came from.

Kim Ok-hee returned 2.54 billion won to Kim Jong-won after he failed to win a nomination, after which around 700 million won including Kim Ok-hee’s personal funds remained in the account.

Regardless of who owns the money, prosecutors are tracing bank accounts to see to where the withdrawn money was transferred.

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