Suspicion that Kim Sung-hwan, friend of Hong-Up Kim, the second son of President Kim Dae-jung, has exercised influence on high-ranking officials at the prosecution to reduce investigation on 3 financial criminals marks the beginning of a huge scale “Prosecution Gate.” The charges filed against Kim Sung-hwan for violation of attorney’s law suggest that there may have been unfair investigation by the prosecution. It appears that in the 2 of the cases, investigation proceeded as Kim expected and he received sizable bribery in return.
In the midst of this, if only Kim is arrest, and the behind the scene person who orchestrated the influence on the prosecution, it would be a case of mistaken justice. If the entire high-ranking officials at the prosecution received requests from Kim, and their subordinates proceeded with investigation as they were ordered by the top, then it would be a serious criminal act that shakes the very foundation of justice, all those involved must be held responsible.
Kim has been arrested for indictment without arrest against Lee Jae-kwan, former Vice-Chairman of Saehan Group, receiving 500 million Won for influencing investigation by the Ulsan District Prosecutor’s Office on Pyungchang General Construction, receiving 500 million Won for early release of CEO of “M” construction company. With the testimony from former high-ranking officials from the prosecution who received the requests from Kim, investigation must be conducted on the prosecutor of the jurisdiction, prosecutor on duty as well as the official who gave the testimony in order to uncover how the requests were made. At the same time, thorough investigation must be conducted to reveal whether Kim Hong-up is involved in the cases.
Unlike public servants in other government agencies, the prosecution has tendency to be protective of “their people” when they are involved in criminal acts. A case in point is the fact that Kim Dae-woong, Appellate Prosecutor of the Kwangju District has been called for questioning only once and the case has been put on hold indefinitely after he was suspected of leaking confidential information about on-going investigation to Lee Soo-dong, former standing director of the Asia Pacific Peace Foundation.
Furthermore, the prosecution has decided not to file charges against former official at the prosecution and current prosecutors, who were filed by the Independent Commission against Corruption. The commission is considering filing petition to the court in response. The prosecution must not be allowed to continue protect their people with their exclusive authority to file charges. If the prosecution cannot investigate fairly, then a special prosecutor must be appointed.