Investigation Embarrasses Park Geun-hye
By Park Chung-a
Staff Reporter
A former police officer faces arrest for his alleged illegal obtaining of the resident registration records of former Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak's family.
Prosecutors Sunday questioned 64-year-old Kwon on how and why he acquired the personal records of Lee's family members.
The investigation is embarrassing for Park Geun-hye, Lee's rival in the presidential nomination race of the major opposition Grand National Party (GNP), as the retired policeman allegedly forwarded the copies to Hong Yoon-shik, a suspected supporter of the daughter of former president Park Chung-hee.
Hong has denied that he asked Kwon to obtain the copy of Lee's personal records. He also added that he has no relationship with the Park camp as is alleged. But Lee's supporters camp have urged prosecutors to investigate Hong further for his suspected role in obtaining the copies.
Kwon has not revealed to whom he handed over the records, a prosecutor said.
The Lee camp suspects that Rep. Kim Hyuk-kyu of the pro-government Uri Party might have used the ``stolen resident registration documents'' to allege that the former Seoul mayor changed residences 21 times in the past in a real estate speculation scam.
Prosecutors also said an investigation is underway on whether Kim Jae-jung and his family members lent their names to their brother-in-law Lee to help him accumulate wealth through real estate deals.