ID :
209445
Mon, 09/26/2011 - 13:23
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https://oananews.org//node/209445
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Presidential office discredits bribery allegations
By Chang Jae-soon
SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- The presidential office on Monday discredited allegations from a local businessman that he offered bribes to close aides to President Lee Myung-bak and other former and incumbent officials, saying its own internal probe turned up nothing to back up the claims.
SLS Group Chairman Lee Kuk-chul has claimed since last week that he gave more than 1 billion won (US$877,500) in bribes to former Vice Culture Minister Shin Jae-min over the past decade. The businessman has also alleged that he offered a total of about 50 million won in gift certificates to at least two presidential officials via Shin in 2008 and 2009.
"We've checked those currently being mentioned in the media. I can't say how the probe was done, but all of them went through a screening process," a presidential official said. "But the probe turned up nothing. Chairman Lee's allegations lacked credibility greatly. ... They are like a story from a novel."
Prosecutors looking into the scandal questioned the businessman Friday.
The businessman, who built the conglomerate that focuses on shipbuilding and heavy industries, has claimed that he came forward with the revelations because he has been unfairly investigated over and over again in what he claimed was a plot to topple his conglomerate.
A series of SLS subsidiaries have either gone bankrupt or into a debt workout program since Lee was investigated over bribery and other charges in 2009. In November last year, he was sentenced to three years in prison, which was suspended for five years.
Ex-Vice Culture Minister Shin and other officials have rejected Lee's claims.
The presidential office has also been working actively to respond to the allegations. On Sunday, it disclosed a video to counter claims that a presidential aide helped the businessman talk with President Lee during a trade promotion convention in 2008.
The clip showed the businessman shaking hands with the president but never talking to him.
The chief of the ruling Grand National Party urged the presidential office to come up with special measures to prevent corruption among its aides and officials as the administration heads into its final year in office.
"Past administrations have always sunk under the weight of corruption cases involving powerful officials, presidential aides and relatives as they entered their final years in office," Rep. Hong Joon-pyo said. "Cheong Wa Dae should come up with extraordinary measures to preempt these kinds of problems."
A senior presidential official told reporters that the government is considering such measures, though the move could touch off complaints that bureaucracy always becomes a target of discipline-tightening whenever such cases happen.
The official stressed that the latest bribery scandal is not a "structural problem," stressing that even if the ex-culture minister had taken money, it would be a personal problem rather than a systematic influence-peddling case.
The official also said that Lee has been silent on the case.
Meanwhile, Lee said in a ceremony to appoint the chief Supreme Court justice Yang Sung-tae that he hopes for a society where the law is obeyed well.
"If we execute the law properly and the government sticks to principles, then we will be able to create such a society," Lee said during the appointment ceremony, according to the presidential spokesman.
SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- The presidential office on Monday discredited allegations from a local businessman that he offered bribes to close aides to President Lee Myung-bak and other former and incumbent officials, saying its own internal probe turned up nothing to back up the claims.
SLS Group Chairman Lee Kuk-chul has claimed since last week that he gave more than 1 billion won (US$877,500) in bribes to former Vice Culture Minister Shin Jae-min over the past decade. The businessman has also alleged that he offered a total of about 50 million won in gift certificates to at least two presidential officials via Shin in 2008 and 2009.
"We've checked those currently being mentioned in the media. I can't say how the probe was done, but all of them went through a screening process," a presidential official said. "But the probe turned up nothing. Chairman Lee's allegations lacked credibility greatly. ... They are like a story from a novel."
Prosecutors looking into the scandal questioned the businessman Friday.
The businessman, who built the conglomerate that focuses on shipbuilding and heavy industries, has claimed that he came forward with the revelations because he has been unfairly investigated over and over again in what he claimed was a plot to topple his conglomerate.
A series of SLS subsidiaries have either gone bankrupt or into a debt workout program since Lee was investigated over bribery and other charges in 2009. In November last year, he was sentenced to three years in prison, which was suspended for five years.
Ex-Vice Culture Minister Shin and other officials have rejected Lee's claims.
The presidential office has also been working actively to respond to the allegations. On Sunday, it disclosed a video to counter claims that a presidential aide helped the businessman talk with President Lee during a trade promotion convention in 2008.
The clip showed the businessman shaking hands with the president but never talking to him.
The chief of the ruling Grand National Party urged the presidential office to come up with special measures to prevent corruption among its aides and officials as the administration heads into its final year in office.
"Past administrations have always sunk under the weight of corruption cases involving powerful officials, presidential aides and relatives as they entered their final years in office," Rep. Hong Joon-pyo said. "Cheong Wa Dae should come up with extraordinary measures to preempt these kinds of problems."
A senior presidential official told reporters that the government is considering such measures, though the move could touch off complaints that bureaucracy always becomes a target of discipline-tightening whenever such cases happen.
The official stressed that the latest bribery scandal is not a "structural problem," stressing that even if the ex-culture minister had taken money, it would be a personal problem rather than a systematic influence-peddling case.
The official also said that Lee has been silent on the case.
Meanwhile, Lee said in a ceremony to appoint the chief Supreme Court justice Yang Sung-tae that he hopes for a society where the law is obeyed well.
"If we execute the law properly and the government sticks to principles, then we will be able to create such a society," Lee said during the appointment ceremony, according to the presidential spokesman.
