US Approves Extradition of BBK Stock Manipulator
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
The Ministry of Justice said Wednesday that Kim Kyung-joon, founder of the scandal-ridden BBK, will be extradited to Seoul from the United States in two weeks to face questioning over his stock manipulation and money-laundering cases.
The government said that the U.S. Embassy in Seoul confirmed the State Department's approval of the extradition of the stock manipulator to Korea.
His forthcoming arrival triggered a nervous reaction from Lee Myung-bak, the candidate of the opposition Grand National Party (GNP).
Party spokeswoman Park Heong-joon said, ``The GNP has consistently said that Kim should return to Korea for the investigation.''
He said, however, that the main opposition party lawmakers will not sit back if the probe takes on political overtones.
The pro-government United New Democratic Party (UNDP) hailed the decision and urged Lee to reveal the truth.
Minor parties also welcomed the news and urged prosecutors to investigate the case thoroughly.
Prosecutors are scheduled to arrest Kim upon his arrival in Seoul and will question him on allegations of Lee's involvement in the stock manipulation, prosecution sources said.
Analysts speculate that Kim might bargain for a more lenient sentence with prosecutors in return for claiming that he and the GNP candidate ``colluded with each other'' in manipulating stock.
Kim established BBK in 1999 and was once Lee's business partner.
Kim and Lee established LKe Bank in 2000 and their business partnership ended in 2001 after Kim filed a false report on the financial status of the company with the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
Kim later founded another business Optional Ventures Korea, through which he manipulated stock prices, inflicting financial damage on shareholders.
Kim also ran the Millennium Arbitrage Fund (MAF), which was one of the core entities allegedly involved in the money-laundering case.
Rep. Suh Hae-suk of the liberal United New Democratic Party (UNDP) claimed during a National Assembly audit of the government that Lee was involved in this stock manipulation and money-laundering.
She presented a MAF brochure as evidence, which has two separate photos of Lee and Kim.
Under the photos are their names and business titles at MAF, indicating Lee was the company chairman.
Suh claimed the brochure supports the claim that the GNP nominee was a legitimate owner of the company.
GNP lawmakers denied Suh's claim by presenting FSS documents showing that Kim held all of BBK's stocks.
The documents also show that the FSS investigated BBK and penalized the firm after finding Kim was involved in several illegal activities.
Lee said he has not worked with Kim since their partnership ended.