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7 politicians on late-businessman’s bribery list deny receiving money

April 10, 2015

Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo, left, and former chiefs of staff Kim Ki-choon.

By Lee Kyung-min

Prosecutors said Friday that former Keangnam Enterprises Chairman Sung Wan-jong had with him what appeared to be a list of bribe-taking politicians when he was found dead in an apparent suicide Thursday.

Sung was at the center of the ongoing probe into failed energy projects.

The list included the names of seven people, including close aides to President Park Geun-hye, and the sums of bribes Sung allegedly gave to five of them, prosecutors said.

A mourner lays a flower in front of an altar for late businessman Sung Wan-jong at a funeral hall in the southwestern city of Seosan on April 10, 2015, one day after Sung hanged himself, protesting his innocence as prosecutors tried to charge him with embezzlement. (Yonhap)

Those on the list denied having received any bribes and, in some cases, said that they did not know Sung well.

A taped conversation Sung had with a reporter of the Kyunghyang Daily was also disclosed with the deceased businessman-politician corroborating much of the contents of the list.

The list showed that Sung provided $100,000 to former Cheong Wa Dae Chief of Staff Kim Ki-choon; 700 million won (US$640,000) to Kim’s predecessor, Heo Tae-yeol; 300 million won (US$274,000) to Incheon Mayor YooJeong-bok; 100 million won (US$91,000) to South Gyeongsang Province Governor Hong Joon-pyo; and 200 million won (US$183,000) to Saenuri Party lawmaker Hong Mun-jong.

The names of Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo and the incumbent Chief of Staff Lee Byung-ki were also included on the list without showing any amounts. The memo also showed that 200 million won (US$183,000) was given to the “Busan mayor” without stating a name. Seo Byung-soo is the current mayor of Busan.

The list was written on a piece of paper the size of an adult’s palm and was found in a pocket of Sung’s pants by police before his body was taken away for an autopsy, the prosecution said.

“I never received money from Sung,” Kim, the former chief-of-staff, told YTN, a cable news channel. “It was all made up by Sung.”

Kim went so far as to say that it was a “spiteful lie,” adding that he did not meet Sung at a health club at the Lotte Hotel as Sung claimed, not to mention receiving any money.

Prime Minister Lee also denied the bribery allegation.

“I only worked with Sung as a colleague when he was a legislator. We were not that close,” Lee said in a press release.

The prosecution indicated that it will launch an investigation.

“We are conducting a handwriting analysis to check whether the memo was written by Sung,” a prosecutor said. “If confirmed, questioning all the people mentioned in the memo will be inevitable.”

On Friday, the Kyunghyang Daily reported that the late Sung made a phone call to one of its editors at 6:00 a.m. on Thursday, hours before he was found dead.

According to a voice file released by the daily on its website and reported on YTN, Sung said he gave Kim $100,000 in cash in September 2006 just before he accompanied the then Grand National Party Chairwoman Park Geun-hye on a trip to Germany.

Kim’s secretary was also present when the money was delivered, Sung said.

Sung also alleged that in 2007 he gave Heo, who was a key campaigner for then-presidential candidate Park, 700 million won (US$640,000) in cash at the Hotel Rivera in southern Seoul.

Sung said the money was used in helping Park win in the party’s primary.

Prosecutors said both Kim and Heo might face bribery charges because the 10-year statute of limitation for bribery has not expired.

However, some analysts say proving the allegations might be difficult because Sung is dead, and securing related records will be difficult.

Meanwhile, Sung’s family members said they do not plan to disclose the contents of a suicide note he left, nor will they hand it over to police.

Police said they do not have legal authority to seize the suicide note against the family’s will.

Sung was found dead Thursday on Mt. Bukhan in northern Seoul amid an intensifying bribery and embezzlement investigation against him and his troubled company regarding the failed “energy diplomacy.”