By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
The lawyer of alleged financial scammer Kim Kyung-joon has denied the prosecution's Wednesday announcement that Kim had admitted his guilt and changed his testimony.
Oh Jae-won, Kim's lawyer, said in a briefing at his office in southern Seoul Thursday that Kim still denies most charges against him.
He made the remark one day after the Seoul prosecution cleared Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak of all financial fraud allegations.
Kim was indicted on charges of embezzling 31 billion won in corporate funds, rigging stock prices and forging passports while running BBK and Optional Ventures Korea six years ago. Kim and Lee were business partners, and Kim claimed Lee took part in the stock price manipulation as the actual owner of BBK.
``The prosecution said Kim changed his previous claim and testified that he was the BBK owner, not Lee. But what Kim really meant was that although there is no tangible evidence, Lee owned the company in an indirect way,'' Oh said.
Prosecutors also said that an alleged ``side contract,'' which was made in February 2000 and showed Lee's ownership of BBK, carried a different stamp from Lee's, saying Kim testified it was actually made in March 2001.
Oh said that it is true that Kim testified he made the contract about a year later than the date written on it. ``However, Kim still claims Lee himself put the stamp on the contract. The contract was made not to be used officially but to guarantee what they had secretly promised,'' the lawyer said.
About the 31 billion won embezzlement charge, he said it was not diversion for personal use _ 20 billion won was spent to pay back investors in BBK, and the rest was spent on Optional Ventures Korea.
Oh also denounced the prosecution's investigation process, saying, ``Whether the contract was a fake or not was not directly related to charges against Kim but was related to Lee. It was inappropriate for prosecutors to examine Kim as a suspect.''
In the meantime, the planned briefing by Kim's family in Los Angeles early Thursday morning was suddenly cancelled about an hour before the scheduled time.
A notice posted under the family's name at the Wilshire Plaza Hotel, the planned briefing venue, read, ``We are canceling the conference. We apologize.''
On Wednesday when the prosecution announced the probe outcome, Erica Kim, Kim's sister, said that she would disclose evidence refuting the investigation result.
The family, however, is incommunicado, and speculations are that they may have no more evidence to reverse the prosecutors' conclusion.
As the prosecution announced detailed evidence clearing Lee of all fraud allegations, they may conclude that their claims could be disadvantageous to Kim who had already been indicted, if no concrete evidence is presented. It is suspected that the family may have decided not to challenge the prosecution so that Kim can receive as light a punishment as possible.
Other speculation is that Erica Kim felt pressured at the news that the prosecution will seek her extradition to Korea.
Prosecutors said Wednesday that they plan to ask the U.S. authorities to extradite her for investigation, as she colluded with her brother in the financial scam, saying she was an accomplice in the brother's corporate fund embezzlement. A U.S. court's ruling that decided Kim Kyung-joon's extradition also recognized the sister was deeply involved in the financial scam, they said.