Brother of Ex-Pres. Roh Denies Bribery Allegation

The older brother of former President Roh Moo-hyun, Geon-pyeong, yesterday denied that he peddled influence while his sibling was in office.

Prosecutors are investigating the role of Roh Geon-pyeong in the sale of Sejong Securities to Nonghyup (now NH Investment Securities) in 2006.

Roh Geon-pyeong, 66, said yesterday that Chung Hwa-sam, 61, former CEO of the golf club Zephyros who is now in prison, asked him to introduce Chung Dae-geun, 64, then Nonghyup CEO, to ask him to influence the acquisition of Sejong Securities.

"I don`t recall when it was but Chung Hwa-sam came to me to ask me for a favor but I declined. I did not receive any money," Roh Geon-pyeong said.

Prosecutors said he is on the investigation list and his suspicion has not yet been clarified. They said Chung confessed to telling Roh Geon-pyeong to facilitate the takeover at the request of Sejong Capital, the largest stakeholder of Sejong Securities, and secured a testimony that when Sejong was sold to Nonghyup, Chung Hwa-sam received three billion won (1.9 million U.S. dollars) as a reward.

Prosecutors said Roh Geon-pyeong has a close relationship with Chung Dae-geun, and want to know if Roh received money in return for the favor, if he asked for a favor to the former Nonghyup CEO without receiving money, or ignored the favor.

Investigators called Chung Dae-geun in prison and grilled him on if he agreed to the favor and how he spent five billion won (3.3 million dollars) he received from Sejong Capital CEO Hong Gi-ok in return for influencing the deal.

Prosecutors are also investigating the allegation that Taekwang Industrial President Park Yeon-cha, a sponsor to former President Roh, evaded taxes after earning a profit of more than 10 billion won (6.6 million dollars) from buying stocks of Sejong before the acquisition and reselling them under other people`s name after the deal.

The Supreme Public Prosecutor`s Office subpoenaed the CEO of the chemical company HUCHEMS to investigate the allegation that Park took over the Nonghyup subsidiary for a bargain price in June 2006.

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