Former Supporter of President Claims at Assembly Hearing


By Yoo Dong-ho
Staff Reporter

President Roh Moo-hyun received illicit funds of 100 million won ($roughly 83,000) from a businessman ahead of the 2002 presidential race, Kim Seong-rae, vice chairwoman of Sun & Moon Group, said on Tuesday.

On the first day of a three-day hearing on illegal presidential campaign funds, Kim testified that Moon Byung-wook, chairman of the Sun & Moon, had delivered the money to Roh in person at a hotel in Kimhae, South Kyongsang Province. Kim, however, flatly denied that the money was delivered in return for Roh’s promise to help cut taxes levied on the leisure company.

Lawmakers also grilled Son Young-lae, former head of the National Tax Service, on charges of arbitrarily reducing taxes for the Sun & Moon Group by more than 10 billion won at the request of Roh’s campaign headquarters.

The former top tax official denied allegations that Roh telephoned him to request tax breaks for the group owned by Moon, who attended the same high school as Roh.

Earlier in the day, the parliamentary hearing was bogged down by fierce opposition from pro-government Uri Party lawmakers.

A group of 25 pro-government Uri Party lawmakers dismissed the testimony as an antiparliamentary outrage, deepening the partisan contention.

The hearing comes as the Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee voted 9 to 2 last week to pass the bill for the three-day hearing, where ruling and opposition parties could investigate each other’s illegal fundraising activities.

Uri Party Rep. Lee Jong-kul took the opportunity to take issue with the opposition-led passage of a bill enabling the release of former Grand National Party chairman Suh Chung-won. ``Opposition forces violated parliamentary order by railroading the release bill. How can such dirty hands push for the parliamentary hearing on illicit fundraising,’’ Lee said. ``Biased parliamentary hearings will ruin the country.’’

The opposition parties were unsuccessful in trying to call in some 60 people to the hearing, including President Roh’s lifetime confidants Ahn Hee-jung, Lee Kwang-jae and Choi Do-sul.

Min Kyeong-chan, brother-in-law of Roh’s elder brother, was also set to be grilled over allegedly raising 65 billion won in investment funds using his status as a relative to the president. But he declined to show up for questioning, claiming that he was not informed in time.

yoodh@koreatimes.co.kr