Key suspect Lee says he gave president’s confidant cash in shopping bag


The state financial regulatory chief has confirmed that former chief broadcasting regulator Choi See-joong asked him last year to “take good care of” issues concerning a business developer suspected of bribing Choi and others for favors.

Prosecutors said Friday that they had already questioned officials from the Financial Supervisory Service to confirm the allegations involving its chief Kwon Hyouk-se.

“We have confirmed the allegations through Kwon in a way we can,” said Lee Geum-ro, senior official in charge of the case at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.

According to the prosecution, Kwon claimed that Choi asked him over the phone last November to take care of Picity, but he left his favor unattended to as it was not an issue he could intervene in.

Prosecutors are probing the charge that the former Korea Communications Commission chairman, dubbed the president’s political mentor, pocketed kickbacks from Picity to help it win Seoul City’s approval to build a large retail complex in Seoul.

Former Picity chief Lee Jeong-bae is purported to have bribed influential figures under the current administration including former Knowledge Economy Vice Minister Park Young-joon for business favors.

On Thursday, prosecutors sought an arrest warrant for Choi for having allegedly received more than 500 million won ($441,000) from Lee through broker Lee Dong-ryul between 2007 and 2008.

Seoul Central District Court will deliberate on whether to issue the warrant next Monday.

Further reinforcing the bribery allegations, the former Picity head said that he once met Choi to hand him “cash in a shopping bag.”

“I directly handed money (to Choi) only once. I can’t remember the exact amount ... whether it was 50 million or 100 million won. I started the (bribery) work, thinking that I can get sufficient help from Choi to get the (city’s) approval,” Lee said in a CBS interview.

“I remember I put the shopping bag (filled with 10,000-won notes) in his office in 2005 and had a casual talk for around five minutes. I left the place quickly as I felt uneasy being with him there.”

Choi admitted to having receiving part of the allegedly illicit money only through broker Lee. He denies that he pocketed it for any favors.

Choi and the broker have known each other for long as they hail from the same hometown of Guryongpo, a small administrative area of Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province.

The bribery scandal, the latest in a series of political setbacks for the lame-duck president, is quickly spreading among Lee’s former aides including former Knowledge Economy Vice Minister Park.

In the same interview, the former Picity head said that he met Park in 2005 multiple times to discuss the construction approval for his firm when Park served as a director of political affairs at the Seoul municipality.

He also said that in early 2008 right after the president took office, he handed 1 billion to the broker Lee so that Park could purchase an apartment with the money. The broker Lee, now under arrest, has stated that he did not deliver it to Park. Instead, he used it for his children’s housing lease

The prosecution is expected to summon Park as early as next week.

By Song Sang-ho  (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)