Lee Sang-deuk

By Na Jeong-ju

The prosecution sought arrest warrants for President Lee Myung-bak’s elder brother and a ruling party lawmaker, Friday, for receiving illegal funds from savings banks during the 2007 presidential race.

The move came after prosecutors questioned Lee Sang-deuk, a former National Assembly vice speaker and Chung Doo-un, a three-term lawmaker of the Saenuri Party, over the bribery allegations.

Both the elder Lee and Chung played key roles in raising campaign funds for the President, which suggests that the money from savings banks might have been used for his campaign.

Chung Doo-un

Public calls have been growing for prosecutors to investigate illegal campaign funds raised by parties in 2007, but they have suggested that they won’t open a Pandora’s Box, but focus only on individual bribery cases.

The elder Lee is suspected of having accepted 600 million won from executives at Solomon Savings Bank and Mirae Savings Bank in the lead-up to the election. Chung also allegedly took some 100 million won from Solomon, according to the prosecution.

Rep. Park Jie-won, the floor leader of the main opposition Democratic United Party, is also facing a summons over suspicions that he received illegal funds from Solomon.

Solomon and Mirae are among several troubled lenders that reportedly bribed a number of politicians and government officials to seek their influence in avoiding audits and crackdowns.

The elder Lee has been allegedly involved in a number of corruption and bribery scandals, but has never been indicted. The prosecution has often been criticized by liberal parties for biased investigations into politically sensitive cases.