By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Civic and lawyers' groups filed a complaint against executives of the Samsung Group including Chairman Lee Kun-hee, demanding the prosecution investigate allegations of embezzlement, bribery and other irregularities.
The move came a day after a former Samsung insider, lawyer Kim Yong-chul, claimed the conglomerate had created a huge slush fund to bribe prosecutors, intelligence officers, taxmen and financial policymakers.
The People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) and Lawyers for a Democratic Society (LDS) filed the complaint with the prosecution Tuesday, designating chairman Lee, Vice Chairman Lee Hak-soo and President Kim In-joo as principal offenders.
The groups sought an investigation into Kim Yong-chul's claim that Samsung raised a slush fund by placing money into bank accounts opened in its executives' names. They also filed a complaint against officials at Woori Bank and Goodmorning Shinhan Securities, which were allegedly involved in helping the group open the borrowed-name accounts.
According to Kim, there is a secret safe on the 27th floor of the group headquarters in which money to be used for bribes was kept.
``The slush fund was used to bribe politicians, prosecutors, judges, taxmen, professors and journalists,'' the groups told reporters near the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in southern Seoul.
Based on Kim's remarks, they claimed that the chairman and the executives used illegal stock and convertible bond (CB) trades to increase the wealth of the chairman's son Jae-yong, even though they knew such trades would cause losses to Samsung affiliates.
``They facilitated the illegal transfer of wealth from Lee to Jae-yong through unfair below market price trades of CBs of Everland, the de facto holding company of Samsung, but they did so in such a fashion that the former and incumbent Everland heads would be charged,'' the groups claimed. Samsung has denied the allegations.
The groups said Lee and the officials should be charged with breach of trust, the instigation of evidence destruction, embezzlement, bribery, and the manipulation of accounting books.
``Samsung's illegal political donations and Lee's illicit wealth transfer to his son have been under suspicion numerous times, but the truth has never been disclosed and key figures of the irregularities have never been punished,'' they said.
``The prosecution has been reluctant to investigate illegalities whenever Samsung was involved. We urge an independent counsel to probe the case for fairness as ordinary prosecutors are likely to be influenced or lobbied by the group,'' they added.
A prosecutor said they hope Kim and the civic group will submit more detailed evidence, such as a list of prosecutors who received bribes.
Samsung said it would sincerely undergo the prosecutors' investigation, adding that it was regretful that the company has to deal with an unproductive dispute at a time when it should be focusing on business in the face of an unfavorable environment including high oil prices.
Presidential contenders of three liberal parties _ Chung Dong-young of the United New Democratic Party, Kwon Young-ghil of the Democratic Labor Party and Moon Kook-hyun of the Creative Korea Party _ called for an independent counsel to investigate the case.
If they jointly propose a bill on an independent counsel, the bill is highly likely to be passed, as the three parties take up more than half of the National Assembly's seats.
Moon claimed Tuesday that a strict probe by an independent counsel was necessary because if Kim's claim was true, most high-ranking prosecutors have been bribed by Samsung and could not conduct a fair investigation.
He also called for the re-investigation of Lee's alleged illegal wealth transfer to his son and a summons of Lee, saying Samsung will have damaged the nation's legal reputation if it fabricated evidence and got witnesses to perjure themselves in the trial as Kim claimed.
Chung also earlier called for an independent counsel, saying it was depressing that Samsung, which offered a huge amount of money to the conservative Grand National Party in the 2002 presidential election, had not stopped this practice.
Kwon of the progressive party said the investigation should lead to the dissolution of the ``Samsung Kingdom'' and fundamental reform of the conglomerate.