Two more former senior military generals have been implicated in corruption involving arms procurement projects.

Given the rampant corruption in defense acquisition, this is hardly big news, but the two cases – involving a former Navy admiral and a retired Army general -- point to a growing trend: Dirty deals involving family members of military officers.

The first case involves Retired Adm. Choi Yoon-hee, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was questioned by investigators over allegations that his son received suspicious money from an arms dealer.

Investigators said Choi’s son allegedly received 20 million won ($17,200) from the dealer in September last year. Investigators suspect the money was related to the Navy’s purchase of multi-mission maritime helicopters in 2012 when Choi was the Chief of Naval Operations.

The dealer arranged the Navy’s acquisition of the AW159 Wildcat supplied by Agusta Westland. The Navy pushed the project in the wake of the sinking of the Cheonan corvette in 2010, in which 46 sailors and officers perished.

Choi reportedly admitted that his son received the money from the dealer, but insisted that his son borrowed the money for his own business. The son also alleged that he gave 15 million won back to the dealer and that the transaction had nothing to do with his father. This is simply ridiculous.

Most outrageous is that a project that had been pushed in response to the tragic loss of 46 soldiers had been tainted by corruption and irregularities. 

Already, seven former and incumbent military personnel had been indicted for forging a report on the helicopters’ operational capabilities. Astonishingly, one of the defendants alleged that the fabrication was made under the direction of Choi.

If that is true, Choi got the dealer to offer money to his son in return for helping him arrange the deal on defective helicopters. It is very likely that a project designed to protect naval ships and our men and women in uniform from a tragedy like the Cheonan sinking was marred by none other than the man who commanded the fallen crew.

Investigators must find the truth by all means and make sure justice is done.  

The same thorough investigation is required in the second case, which involves Jung Hong-yong, president of the Agency for Defense Development, and his son.

Investigators said that the same dealer who gave money to Choi’s son allegedly handed 40 million won to Jung’s son in July last year. Jung admitted that his son borrowed the money because he needed money in the bank to prepare papers for his overseas studies.

Jung said that his son returned 30 million won to the dealer after getting a certificate on his bank balance and that he gave back the remaining 10 million won in November last year. Jung said he and the dealer were “friends” and that he simply touched on his son’s bank balance problem over drinks and that he did not know about the money transfer. This too is ridiculous.

Would it be a coincidence that the dealer gave the money to Jung’s son two months after the retired three-star Army general took over the ADD, which oversees weapons technology development and which is deeply involved in arms procurement projects?

Would it be another coincidence that Jung returned the 10 million won in the same month the government launched a joint investigation team into the widespread corruption in defense procurement?

The two cases testified to the reality that dirty money in the defense industry even targets family members of senior military and procurement personnel, and worse, officials use their own families as channels for kickbacks.

All in all, it is important for the joint investigation team to conduct thorough probes into all corruption allegations in the two cases and hand out due punishment. More important is to come up with drastic reform measures to make the arms acquisition process fairer and more transparent.