The Korean left is likely rejoicing today with the news that they have finally gotten payback on former President Lee Myung-Bak for uncovering the corruption of former President Roh Moo-hyun:
Former President Lee Myung-bak was taken into custody by prosecutors after a local court issued a warrant Thursday night to detain him as a suspect in a criminal investigation over corruption allegations.
Lee, who served as president from 2008 to 2013, became the fourth former president to be detained on corruption charges.
He faces at least 18 charges for receiving bribes from businessmen and politicians, misappropriating secret operations funds from the country’s main spy agency and generating slush funds using a company registered under his family’s name.
After the Seoul Central District Court issued the warrant around 11:05 p.m. on Thursday, prosecutors went to his home in Nonhyeon-dong, southern Seoul, and transported Lee to the Seoul Dongbu Detention Center in Munjeong-dong, southern Seoul.
Earlier in the day, Judge Park Beom-seok reviewed the prosecution’s application for a detention warrant, which was submitted on Monday. Judge Park made the decision after reviewing documents from prosecutors and Lee’s lawyers. A hearing was not held because Lee refused to attend.
Prosecutors questioned the former president on March 14 and asked the court to issue a detention warrant for further investigation because they believed there was a high possibility of evidence destruction. Lee, they argued, might try to persuade witnesses to change their testimony. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but this could also be payback for the prison term that former Prime Minister during the Roh administration, Han Myeong-sook received for corruption. This is just another example that politics in South Korea is a zero sum game.
If half of the corruption allegations against former President Lee Myung-bak are true, then it looks like he may be in some serious trouble:
Lee Myung-bak
Troubled shipbuilder Sungdong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering was the source of bribes former President Lee Myung-bak allegedly accepted from a banker, sources from the prosecution said Friday.
Lee, who was in office from 2008 to 2013, is being investigated over various corruption accusations. Of the 20 charges he is facing, one is an allegation that he had accepted a total of 2.25 billion won ($2.12 million) from Lee Pal-sung, then-chairman of Woori Financial Group, from 2007 until 2011. The banker allegedly paid the money to keep his job during Lee’s presidency.
According to prosecution sources, a memo was found in Lee Pal-sung’s home during a raid last month. It detailed his payments to Lee’s family, including the former president’s son-in-law.
The money came from Sungdong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, which was in serious financial trouble at the time, the prosecution sources said. The midsize shipbuilder was established in 2003 but its financial situation deteriorated in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial meltdown. Up to now, the firm received 9.3 trillion won in bailouts, but has not been turned around. The government decided earlier this month to let the company file for court receivership.
Lawyers of the former president said Friday that Lee told the prosecution during questioning earlier this week that he had no knowledge of the bribery.
The JoongAng Ilbo reported Friday that the prosecution has secured testimony from a former CEO of auto component maker DAS that former President Lee accepted large amounts of secret funds from the company for years.
According to sources from the legal community, the prosecution suspects that Lee had took about 3.5 billion won from DAS. The auto parts maker is technically owned by Lee’s elder brother, but prosecutors believe that Lee is the actual owner. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Former President Lee Myung-bak (C) arrives at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office on March 14, 2018, to be grilled as a suspect over a string of corruption allegations that include bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power. (Yonhap)
The campaign to put former President Lee Myung-Bak in jail next to Park Geun-hye continues:
This photo, taken on March 6, 2018, shows a police officer walking around the residence of former President Lee Myung-bak in Seoul’s Gangnam Ward. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office subpoenaed Lee to come to the office for questioning as a suspect on March 14 over a string of suspicions of bribery and other irregularities. (Yonhap)
The prosecution will question former President Lee Myung-bak next Wednesday over a wide range of wrongdoings allegedly sanctioned under his administration. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said it asked Lee to appear before the district office at 9:30 a.m. March 14.
The summons came amid intensifying investigation into members of Lee’s family and close aides, and their incriminating statements. Lee is facing abuse of power charges for managing hundreds of billions of won (hundreds of millions of dollars) in a slush fund through DAS, a car parts manufacturer ostensibly owned by his elder brother Lee Sang-eun. A key aide managing his assets said Lee owned land in Dogok, southern Seoul, under a borrowed name and the proceeds from the sale of the land were funneled into DAS, substantiating the prosecution’s supposition that Lee Myung-bak was the company owner.
The controversy concerning DAS nearly cost him his 2007 Presidential election as it was among the few entities that recovered its initial investment in full during his term unlike 5,500 investors who lost 100 billion won in a stock price manipulation scandal in 2001.
Lee is suspected of receiving 1.7 billion won in bribes from the National Intelligence Service through many of his key aides who recently confessed about their roles in delivering the money. Lee is also suspected of having Samsung Group pay about 6 billion won in a retainer to a U.S. firm, Akin Gump, of which Samsung was a major client in return for a presidential pardon for group chairman Lee Kun-hee in 2009. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but as I have long said this is all payback by the South Korean left against Lee Myung-Bak for exposing the corruption of former leftwing President Roh Moo-hyun. The exposing of the corruption led Roh to commit suicide.
This seems pretty outrageous to me that former President Park is looking at 30 years in jail when murderers and rapists in South Korea get far less time than that:
The prosecution demanded a 30-year prison term for former President Park Geun-hye, Tuesday, at the latest hearing in a corruption trial stemming from an influence-peddling scandal that removed her from office. It also called for the court to fine her 118.5 billion won ($110 million). The Seoul Central District Court held the final hearing for Park, who again refused to appear citing health problems. If she is found guilty, the sentencing for Park, who was indicted for receiving 59.2 billion won in bribes among 18 charges, will be held April 6.
The harsh sentence demand was widely expected as taking 100 million won ($97,000) or over in bribes is punishable by a minimum prison term of ten years. The Supreme Court sentencing guideline stipulates that a minimum of an 11-year prison term be imposed for those who received 500 million won or over in bribes. Choi Soon-sil, Park’s longtime friend and the central figure in the scandal, who faced 13 out of the 18 charges Park did, was sentenced to 20 years.
Prosecutors said Park deserved harsh punishment for the influence-peddling scandal that undermined constitutional values and the public trust in the judicial system. The charges against her were substantiated by evidence including witness statements and meeting minutes made by the presidential chief of staff and presidential secretaries, they added. “Park is the central figure in the influence-peddling scandal. She was head of state and a political figure with ultimate power, and had full authority in managing administrative affairs,” the prosecution said. “She gave powerful discretion to a private individual, Choi, thereby subjecting the public to the unprecedented trauma stemming from the scandal, from which we can never easily recover.”
Such an act, the prosecution added, violated the public’s expectation that the country would be governed by socially agreed-upon principles, and that individuals would be respected for their own merit not for their connections. “It also violated the public expectation that people should be guaranteed a fair opportunity regardless of their occupation or status and lead a life in a free and just country,” it said. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but I have yet to see the prosecutors show evidence that President Park ordered someone to pay a bribe.
I do agree that the above statement “She gave powerful discretion to a private individual, Choi, thereby subjecting the public to the unprecedented trauma stemming from the scandal” is a valid point. Choi Soon-shil definitely used her position as a close friend of Park Geun-hye to benefit herself and President Park gave her that platform. However, does a politician have criminal liability because one of their friends are corrupt? If so there should be a whole lot more Korean politicians heading to jail than just Park Geun-hye.
Here is the latest update on the status of ex-ROK President Park Geun-hye who continues to be jailed despite not being convicted of anything:
Yoo Yeong-ha
Former President Park Geun-hye, currently facing a criminal trial for conspiring with her friend to receive bribes from conglomerates, is extremely regretful that she was fooled by her longtime confidante, Park’s onetime defense lawyer said Wednesday.
Park was indicted in April 2017 for having abused her power to receive bribes from conglomerates by conspiring with her friend, Choi Soon-sil.
The former president is also charged with leaking confidential information to Choi. She has been boycotting the trial since October, describing the accusations as “political retaliation.”
All her lawyers, including a longtime associate, Yoo Yeong-ha, resigned from the case to protest a judge’s decision to extend her detention to April 2018.
In an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo, Yoo spoke for the first time about the case and his client. It was Yoo’s first media interview since Park was impeached and ousted from presidency in March of last year. The interview took place on Wednesday, and the JoongAng Ilbo published it in Friday’s edition.
Yoo said Park had not known about Choi’s alleged illicit activities when she was president. “The National Intelligence Service, police and the presidential senior secretary for civil affairs never briefed her about Choi,” Yoo said. “She said it is unfortunate that no one informed her about Choi’s activities.”
Park was indicted in April for alleged crimes committed during her failed presidency. Prosecutors said Park, in collusion with Choi, received massive bribes from conglomerates through two cultural and sports foundations Choi practically controlled. Samsung’s contributions to the foundations and generous sponsorship of equestrian training for Choi’s daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, were described as bribes, and Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was also indicted for offering or promising the president a total of 43.3 billion won ($40.7 million).
Yoo said Park is firm on three key issues surrounding her charges. “Park is firm that she never heard from Choi that Samsung Group offered support for Choi’s daughter’s equestrian training,” Yoo said. “Park is also firm that she never asked Samsung Vice Chairman Lee to support Choi and her daughter. She also stands firm that she never ordered An Chong-bum, then senior economic affairs secretary, to create foundations.”
Regarding the newly added charges that Park had misappropriated the funds of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and used the money for private purposes, Yoo said the former leader is also innocent on this count. Earlier this month, the prosecution said Park had used 1.5 billion won of misappropriated NIS funds for private affairs, including beauty treatments.
Yoo had visited Park at the Seoul Detention Center after the new charges were added. Speculation was high that Yoo would be rehired, but Park ultimately did not retain him.
“At the beginning of her term, Park was briefed that the Blue House of the previous administrations had received money from the NIS and used it, and there is no legal problem involving the practice,” Yoo said. “She therefore told her officials to do business as usual. She never received any report about spending the NIS money.”
Yoo added, “It’s also not true that Park used the NIS money for private affairs. A president has their own special-activities account. There’s no reason for her to use the NIS money.”
Yoo also said it is unfair to hold Park accountable for the administration’s creation and operation of a blacklist of liberal artists to oppress them and cut their funding just because she was briefed about a plan.
“She doesn’t seem to recall any specific order,” Yoo said. “If you argue that she made a tacit order for something just because she received a briefing about it, it means that presidents will be linked to all sorts of crimes in the future. No administration will be safe, if you use that logic.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but on this issue I have yet to see the evidence that Park ever accepted a bribe or knew what Choi was up to. If this all ends up being smoke and mirrors to get her out of office this is going to cause a precedent that whenever the conservatives take power they will legally go after liberal presidents for real or imagined reasons as well.
Picture of construction during the Camp Humphreys expansion project.
South Korean prosecutors have raided the offices of one of the nation’s largest conglomerates amid allegations it offered multimillion-dollar kickbacks to the US Army in exchange for construction contracts.
Dozens of investigators were dispatched to the headquarters of SK Engineering and Construction in downtown Seoul on Friday to confiscate computer hard disks, documents and other material related to construction projects at a new US army base in South Korea’s Pyeongtaek county.
The prosecutors are investigating allegations that the company — an affiliate of the nation’s third-largest conglomerate, SK — gave almost $3m to a US army officer in 2010 to steer a $420m dollar construction contract in its favour.
The officer, Duane Nishiie of the US Army Engineers Corp, was indicted in September in Hawaii on charges including bribery, wire fraud and money laundering related to the case. Lee Seung-ju, a former officer in the procurement department of Seoul’s defence ministry, was indicted on the same charges.
SK Engineering and Construction declined to comment. US Forces Korea was not immediately available to comment.
“The raid was needed to look into the bribery claims linked to a US military contract,” the prosecutor in charge of the investigation told the Financial Times. [The Financial Times]
According to the Korea Times there is a bunch of mounting evidence against former ROK President Park Geun-hye proving she is corrupt has been found:
Ousted former President Park Geun-hye, who is on trial over massive corruption allegations, seems to be seeking sympathy from international society by claiming she is suffering from “political persecution.”
The change of strategy may have come because she is unlikely to get a favorable verdict in the trial, with her detention being extended recently for another six months.
But it seems unclear whether her playing the victim of political retaliation will work, because more and more evidence unfavorable to her is being found, and she has already faced strong criticism for denying all the allegations and attempting to cover them up. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but I would love to see a roll up of this evidence and how Park ordered a cover up. I have yet to see a definitive roll up of the evidence just accusations in the media. Maybe at some point we will see the evidence that proves she is corrupt.
Here is probably the statement that concerned me the most in the article:
Rep.Park Beom-kye also said she has four to six times as much space as other inmates, has enough furniture and received outside medical treatment at a hospital twice.“She can also receive treatment inside the prison any time she wants.The claim (of human rights violations) is unreasonable,” he said.
“She committed very serious crimes but she and the MH Group are likely to package her as a victim of political retaliation.”
The cell conditions I am less concerned about then the fact that Representative Park Beom-kye has already declared her guilty with no presumption of innocence until proven guilty. That just feeds into Park Geun-hye’s claims that this is a political persecution.
Does everyone remember Heather Cho of “Nut Rage” fame? You would think her chaebol owning dad would keep a low profile after such a high profile incident involving his family. Well that was not the case as he is now being targeted by authorities for corruption:
Cho Yang-ho
The police’s request for a warrant to arrest Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho accused of fund misappropriation was rejected by the prosecution on Tuesday.
Cho, who doubles as CEO of Korean Air Lines Co., is under investigation over suspicion that he siphoned off 3 billion won (US$2.6 million) from company funds to pay for his house remodeling expenses between May 2013 and August 2014. Police made the writ request for Cho on Monday on possible charges of breach of trust.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said it instructed the police to further investigate the case to substantiate his charges.
He was questioned by police last month. He has denied any wrongdoing, saying he had no knowledge of the misappropriation.
The allegations were raised during a separate police investigation into possible tax fraud by an interior renovation company that works largely for business conglomerates.
In early July, police investigators raided the airline’s headquarters in western Seoul and confiscated accounting books and contract documents. [Yonhap]
That must be some serious renovations to cost $2.6 million.
More corruption charges related to the Camp Humphreys relocation project:
Picture of construction during the Camp Humphreys expansion project.
A 58-year-old Pearl City man is in custody at the Federal Detention Center on charges that he accepted and hid more than $2.8 million in bribes that he solicited to steer more than $400 million worth of engineering and construction work to a particular South Korean-based multinational company when he worked as a contracting officer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
A federal grand jury returned an indictment Thursday charging Duane Nishiie and South Korean national Seung-Ju Lee, 50, with conspiracy, bribery, wire fraud, money laundering and lying in connection with the awarding of two contracts that are part of a massive, ongoing U.S. Army relocation project in South Korea.
Nishiie pleaded not guilty Friday. Lee has yet to answer to the charges. (…….)
According to the indictment, Nishiie and Lee steered a December 2008 infrastructure and engineering contract worth more than $400 million to a particular company and a March 2010 construction contract worth more than $6 million to the same company in exchange for bribes. Lee was an officer in the procurement arm of the Korean Ministry of Defense, which is working with the U.S. government on the Army relocation project. [Honolulu Star Advertiser]
