One close aide after another suffers fall in expanding corruption investigation


Staying true to the usual cycle in which lame duck presidents and their aides face corruption scandals toward the end of his term, an increasing number of President Lee Myung-bak’s men are being investigated for alleged irregularities.

While a series of charges and convictions have put former aides of Lee in the headlines over the past several months, the strongest blow yet was dealt with allegations against the president’s purported political mentor Choi See-joong. Choi was grilled by prosecutors for over 14 hours on Wednesday over suspected influence-peddling in a construction project named Picity.

Late Thursday afternoon, the prosecutors sought for an arrest warrant for Choi for bribery.

The scandal is likely to embroil other aides of Lee, including former Vice Minister of Knowledge Economy Park Young-joon and possibly other Seoul Metropolitan Government officials. 

On top of that, there is the president’s older brother Lee Sang-deuk, whose name has made frequent appearances in various allegations and scandals.

The elder Lee’s former aide Park Bae-su, arrested in December for receiving kickbacks from SLS Group chairman Lee Kuk-chul, was also allegedly involved in another influence-peddling case in Ulsan where two brokers allegedly pocketed commission after arranging a large loan from Kyongnam Bank.

Lee Sang-deuk, a six-term lawmaker, has so far been implicated in the bribery case of Prime Savings Bank, illegal lobbying by SLS Group and an illegal donation for party nomination, to name a few.

Lee’s name once again emerged in the latest bribery case upon news reports on Thursday that Picity’s broker Lee Dong-ryul repeatedly met with the president’s father-figure between 2007 and 2008. The broker is suspected of delivering at least 1.1 billion won to Choi and Park in return for their help in getting the construction project approved by Seoul City.

If these political heavyweights are proven to have been involved in the malfeasance, President Lee’s efforts to maintain authority until his term ends next February will be dealt a severe blow, observers said.

“The customary equation of a lame duck administration facing sterner scrutiny by the prosecutors is inevitable in a way as the once-powerful members of the outgoing government begin to lose their grip on the prosecutors,” said Yoon Seong-yi, a political science professor at Kyung Hee University.

“In general, prosecutors may also feel the need to step up their game ahead of the incoming government, which tends to differentiate itself from the former unpopular government by pressing a thorough evaluation on their predecessor,” Yoon explained.

In the meantime, Choi’s comments earlier this week that he may have spent some of the money from Picity’s broker to conduct opinion polls for President Lee during his presidential campaign in 2007 further raised tension at Cheong Wa Dae.

President Lee and his aides mostly remained silent on the matter, only occasionally underlining their irrelevance to Choi’s personal activities, but apparently highly-strung over Choi’s remarks.

“(The president) is probably more concerned about this case being politicized and aggravating the difficult situation of running the country, than he would be about his personal well-being,” a high-rank Cheong Wa Dae official was quoted as telling Munhwa Ilbo.

While the widening bribery scandal along with a slew of other graft allegations will surely weaken the incumbent administration’s foothold in the remaining months, they are not likely to radically sway the race for the next presidency, political pundits said.

“Since the Saenuri Party’s frontrunner Park Geun-hye has been determined to distance herself from the Lee government, it is unlikely to have a substantial effect on her presidential bid. (Lee and Park) share little sense of common responsibility,” said politics professor Jung Hae-gu at Sungkonghoe University.

And likewise for the opposition parties, Jung said.

“Although the opposition forces can enjoy some of the reflective benefits from the scandal-ridden ruling camp, the advantages will be somewhat limited, because voters tend to be forward-looking in voting for the next president, rather than looking back on the performance of the outgoing government,” Jung explained.

Powerful scandals involving close members of the government have customarily hit the nation ahead of presidential elections in the past.

In the fifth year for both former President Kim Young-sam and late President Kim Dae-jung, irregularities involving their offspring shook up politics, leading to their sons’ arrests.

The last year of late President Roh Moo-hyun’s administration was also tainted with irregularities involving his close aides Lee Kwang-jae and Ahn Hee-jung, as well as his older brother Roh Gun-pyeong.

Past presidents usually turned to inter-Korean relations to break the lame duck mold, such as President Roh who held the second inter-Korean summit less than five months before he was to step down from office.

There was also talk of President Lee possibly pushing for an inter-Korean summit, until North Korea announced the death of Kim Jong-il last December.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)