Former Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo will face a prosecutorial summons on Thursday for allegedly taking illicit money from a businessman, officials said Tuesday.
Lee is suspected to have received 30 million won ($27,347) from former Keangnam Enterprises head Sung Woan-jong, who claimed to have given money to eight politicians before killing himself in early April.
A special investigative team on the case said Lee agreed to appear before the prosecution at 10 a.m. Thursday. He is the second of the eight politicians to be grilled by the prosecution over the burgeoning graft scandal. South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Hong Joon-pyo was questioned by investigators for 17 hours last week.
The nation’s former second-in-command has been one of the primary targets in the graft scandal touched off by Sung’s posthumous disclosure made via an interview with a local daily shortly before his death.
The scandal involves several of President Park Geun-hye’s confidents and members of the ruling Saenuri Party.
In the face of political pressure and public resentment, Lee quit his post last month. He has become one of the shortest-reigning premiers in the country’s history.
Before stepping down, Lee denied allegations saying that he would take his own life if found guilty. The ex-premier also claimed that he and Sung were not even close.
Despite his repeated denial of wrongdoings, the public became skeptical as evidence overturning his claims emerged. Phone records showed that the two had made calls to each other more than 200 times a year.
Authorities have been working to verify whether Lee had a private meeting with Sung at his election campaign office in 2013 when he was running for a parliamentary seat, and if the supposed illegal transaction did take place. Last week, they called in Lee’s former driver who told local media that he witnessed the meeting.
A volunteer from Lee’s camp was also questioned as a witness, as well as Sung’s former driver and his secretary who are believed to have accompanied Sung on the visit.
Investigators have acquired toll gate records of Sung’s car that implies he visited Lee’s office at the cited time, along with testimonies from the businessman’s former aides, according to sources.
Prior to calling Lee in for questioning, the prosecution is expected to summon his former aide who allegedly attempted to pressure Lee’s former driver not to give unfavorable testimonies.
Meanwhile, Gov. Hong on Tuesday continued to claim his innocence via social media and press conferences.
Hong said Monday that the money suspected to be an illegal political fund from Sung was actually raised by his wife, who secretly pooled the special allowance he had received as a floor leader of the ruling party.
Hong’s explanation, however, sparked criticism that the money ― once mounting to 300 million won ― was not reported to the authorities, coupled with attacks from the opposition that he embezzled government funds.
He refuted by saying he had no knowledge of what he called his wife’s “secret fund” prior to the investigation, and that the talks of embezzlement was “absurd” since the special allowance is essentially part of his salary as a floor leader.
On Sung’s claim that he gave him 100 million won to be nominated as a parliamentary candidate, Hong said it was not even enough to be nominated as a candidate for a provincial council. “Someone came up to me (in 2004) and offered 500 million won for a nomination. When I told him ‘they used to give 2 billion,’ the person immediately offered me 2 billion,” he said in a press conference Monday.
But the comment induced new criticism from the opposition that the nominations process for the ruling party is tainted with bribes.
By Yoon Min-sik ()
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
