By Byun Duk-kun
Staff Reporter

Ahn Hee-jung, former aide and also a key campaigner for President Roh Moo-hyun during the 2002 presidential election, allegedly received an illegal campaign fund of 200 million won ($166,000) from Daewoo Engineering and Construction, according to the prosecution on Monday.

The former presidential aide, who is now in custody on suspicion of raising more than 2.4 billion won of illicit campaign funds during the presidential election, allegedly received an additional 200 million won from Daewoo E&C in two separate payments, 100 million won in March and another 100 million won in November 2002, according to the prosecution.

The prosecution is still trying to find out whether Ahn received additional funds from other companies.

Also, the prosecution said more than 5 billion won of the company’s 30 billion won slush fund may have been funneled into the nation’s political circle.

The prosecution raided the company’s headquarters last Wednesday to find evidence of the slush funds and bribery charges. They said the company had stashed away some 30 billion won, of which some 2 billion is suspected to have been funneled to the then ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) and opposition Grand National Party (GNP) ahead of the presidential election. The prosecution suspects an additional 3 billion won may have been offered to both ruling and opposition party lawmakers.

The prosecution also summoned Nam Sang-kook, former chairman of Daewoo E&C, for questioning over suspicions that he offered bribes to several of the nation’s former and incumbent lawmakers. They are considering placing travel bans on more lawmakers regarding the corruption scandal, in addition to those already arrested including Rep. Chyung Dai-chul of the Uri Party and Rep. Kim Young-iel of the GNP.

The prosecution said they will impose travel bans on an additional 13-14 lawmakers and party officials, and summon them as early as this week. The number also includes those suspected of receiving illegal campaign funds from Daewoo E&C ahead of the presidential election and delivering it to their party headquarters.

The prosecution suspect a number of former and incumbent lawmakers accepted bribes from the construction company in exchange for various business favors in a number of large construction projects, including the one to build the Kangwon Land Resort, the first casino to be open to South Korean public.

The list of those suspected of receiving money from the construction company or how much money the company had offered was not known immediately, but the prosecution said those suspected of receiving bribes were either former or incumbent lawmakers.

In addition to former and incumbent lawmakers suspected of receiving bribes from Daewoo E&C, the prosecution also decided to place exit bans on party officials suspected of personally delivering the illegal campaign funds from the construction company during the 2002 presidential election.

The prosecution said none of the suspected politicians were incumbent lawmakers, and kept from disclosing their names.

Still, the prosecution said those suspected of delivering the illicit funds from Daewoo E&C will not be new persons to be implicated in the corruption allegation, ``but those who have already been unearthed during an investigation by the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office.’’

``The way they (party officials) had received the money (from Daewoo E&C) was not very different from ways other conglomerates delivered theirs,’’ a prosecutor said, implying the money may have been delivered in shopping bags or boxes.

The prosecution suspect one MDP official, identified only by his initial A, received and personally delivered some 700-800 million won ($583,000-$666,000) of illegal funds to his party while an official at the GNP, also identified only by his initial S, is suspected of receiving and delivering some 1.2-1.3 billion won from Daewoo E&C.

benjamine@koreatimes.co.kr