By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
A lawmaker-elect of the minority Creative Korea Party was arrested on charges of document forgery and disseminating false information.
The Suwon District Court said it issued an arrest warrant sought by the prosecution for Lee Han-jung who was given a parliamentary seat by the proportional representation system. Lee has become the first lawmaker-elect to be arrested on charges of Election Law violations.
According to the prosecution, Lee fabricated his high school and college diplomas and submitted a forged graduation certificate from China's Yanbian University to the National Election Commission. He also did not report his criminal record to the commission _ he has been convicted of fraud three times and forgery once.
Separately, the prosecution asked a local court to issue an arrest warrant for Jeong Kuk-kyo, who was given a proportional representation seat by the main opposition United Democratic Party, on charges of manipulating prices of shares of his former company.
According to the prosecution, Jeong and the other main shareholders of H&T, a company he ran, sold company shares after spreading false rumors to raise the stock price, making 40 billion won in illicit gains. He is also suspected of embezzling 1 billion won in corporate funds.
Prosecutors also sought another arrest warrant for Kim Il-yoon of the Pro-Park Geun-hye Alliance for vote buying. He was elected in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province.
He allegedly paid 40 million won to his campaigners. Police earlier confirmed that hundreds of millions of won were withdrawn from bank accounts of his wife and aides. The wife was charged without physical detention, and 13 campaigners were arrested. The party cancelled Kim's party membership Monday.
Crisis at Pro-Park Alliance
In a related probe into lawmakers-elect, prosecutors raided the office of an aide of Suh Chung-won, co-chairman of the Pro-Park Alliance, over the weekend to seize evidence of the political group's alleged acceptance of money in exchange for National Assembly seats.
The raid comes after the suspicious selection of Yang Jung-rye, the youngest lawmaker-elect, who was given a proportional representation seat by the party. It was alleged that she ``purchased'' the seat with a huge donation.
Investigators secured computer files and documents at the office in southern Seoul where Suh also used previously. They will question Suh and other officials over the procedure used to select Yang and other proportional representation candidates.
It was rumored that Yang, 31, without political experience, contributed a large sum of money to the party to be selected as a candidate. Her mother, a construction firm head, has close ties to the party.
Regarding allegations that Yang paid 2 billion won, Suh said the party borrowed money from Yang's mother for election campaigning expenses and would pay it back in June.
Prosecutors have examined bank accounts of Yang, Suh, and other party officials and lawmakers-elect. The prosecution demanded Yang and her mother present themselves for questioning. If they refuse, prosecutors plan to arrest them.