By Kang Seung-woo
Newly retired Adm. Choi Yoon-hee, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is likely to face a summons soon over his possible involvement in a corruption case regarding the nation's deal to buy maritime helicopters from an Anglo-Italian company.
According to the prosecution on Wednesday, the government's joint investigation team is currently tracing transactions between bank accounts of related figures, including Choi and his wife.
Choi finished his 42-year military career Wednesday after being replaced by Army Gen. Lee Sun-jin.
In 2013, Korea selected AgustaWestland's AW159 Lynx Wildcat over U.S. Sikorsky's MH-60R to contain North Korean submarines and naval surface vessels.
The military plans to buy eight AW159s by next year.
However, it was disclosed later that the Navy had forged documents on the AW159's operational capability to help the chopper win the contract
According to the investigation, the evaluation paper of the AW159 was made before the helicopter had even been produced.
As a result, a rear admiral, surnamed Park, was arrested for falsifying evaluations in June after he allegedly confessed that Choi had instructed him to do so.
At that time, Choi was Chief of Naval Operations.
In response to the allegation, Choi denied it in August, saying that he never ordered Park to fabricate the evaluation.
In addition, the investigators recently ascertained whether Choi met with Kim Yang, a former head of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs who was indicted in July on charges of accepting 1.4 billion won ($1.2 million) in bribes in exchange for exerting his influence on the procurement of the AW159.
In 2011, Kim was hired as an adviser for the multinational helicopter design and manufacturing company.
However, the joint investigation team said that it has uncovered no irregularities linked to Choi.
The investigation team was launched in November in order to root out corruption in the defense industry after a series of bribery cases hit the nation hard last year.
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| Choi Yoon-hee |
According to the prosecution on Wednesday, the government's joint investigation team is currently tracing transactions between bank accounts of related figures, including Choi and his wife.
Choi finished his 42-year military career Wednesday after being replaced by Army Gen. Lee Sun-jin.
In 2013, Korea selected AgustaWestland's AW159 Lynx Wildcat over U.S. Sikorsky's MH-60R to contain North Korean submarines and naval surface vessels.
The military plans to buy eight AW159s by next year.
However, it was disclosed later that the Navy had forged documents on the AW159's operational capability to help the chopper win the contract
According to the investigation, the evaluation paper of the AW159 was made before the helicopter had even been produced.
As a result, a rear admiral, surnamed Park, was arrested for falsifying evaluations in June after he allegedly confessed that Choi had instructed him to do so.
At that time, Choi was Chief of Naval Operations.
In response to the allegation, Choi denied it in August, saying that he never ordered Park to fabricate the evaluation.
In addition, the investigators recently ascertained whether Choi met with Kim Yang, a former head of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs who was indicted in July on charges of accepting 1.4 billion won ($1.2 million) in bribes in exchange for exerting his influence on the procurement of the AW159.
In 2011, Kim was hired as an adviser for the multinational helicopter design and manufacturing company.
However, the joint investigation team said that it has uncovered no irregularities linked to Choi.
The investigation team was launched in November in order to root out corruption in the defense industry after a series of bribery cases hit the nation hard last year.
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