“Both Lee and Roh’s Camps Illegally Raised Billions in Special Funds”

The Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office announced yesterday that it has obtained some clues to the large amount of illicit fundraising from both the Grand National Party (GNP) and President Roh Moo-hyun’s camp during the presidential election last year.

Along with the allegation, prosecutors are planning to summon more than two members each from the GNP and the Roh’s camp soon, who were suspected of having diverted the money for their personal purposes.

“For those politicians of the GNP and the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) who had illegally misused election funds, they will be indicted on charges of either violating the election fund law or evading donation taxes,” said Ahn Dae-hee, the chief prosecutor of the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office’s Central Investigation Department.

In addition, as a result of tracking the banking accounts of the GNP, the prosecutors found out that some small and medium sized enterprises had supported the illegal fundraising of the party by donating billions in special party expenses.

An official of the prosecution said the GNP previously reported to the Presidential Election Committee that it had received 2.8 billion won in special party expenses since July 3 of last year. However, it recently turned out that the GNP was actually inappropriately offered far more money from the companies.

The prosecutors also confirmed a statement from some involved people that the MDP had also raised special party funds during the election last year, and thus the investigation will be extended to figure out the size of illicit funds.

“The key documents related to the special party expenses of Roh’s camp are being kept by the MDP, however the party has not submitted those documents until now. Accordingly, the size of extra funds has not been verified yet,” explained the prosecution.

The prosecution also hinted that probes on the corporations would be continued through next year, stating that investigation on the conglomerates such as Samsung, LG, Hyundai Motors, and Lotte is still under way and it would continue interrogating the companies that are suspected of offering illegal funds unless the political parties voluntarily disclose the truth.

Meanwhile, investigators of the Prosecutor’s Office yesterday blamed political circles for their interruption of the prosecutor’s probe by restraining the engaged companies from revealing the truth on illegal donations, avoiding their presence to the prosecution, or dodging the probe and refusing to submit the documents.

Wi-Yong Jung viyonz@donga.com