Probe on President-Elect to Start
By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
The Cabinet endorsed a bill Wednesday to empower an independent prosecutor to launch a second investigation into President-elect Lee Myung-bak's alleged involvement in a financial scam.
The approval was made in a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae chaired by President Roh Moo-hyun. This is the first time in history that a Korean President-elect is to be the subject of a criminal investigation.
The presidential office will ask the head of the Korean Bar Association to recommend three candidates for the special prosecutor position. Roh will pick one of the three.
The independent counsel will mainly investigate whether the former CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction orchestrated the BBK Asset Management-related stock price manipulation with his former business partner Kim Kyung-joon.
The investigation will also focus on whether he engaged in illegal real estate transactions, and other irregularities, including the false declaration of his personal assets and money laundering.
Under the bill passed at the National Assembly two days before Lee's election, a special prosecutor is entitled to investigate the case for up to 40 days, until several days before the inauguration of the next administration on Feb. 25, with 105 investigators and assistants.
If cleared of the allegations, Lee will become the next head of state. If he is indicted and found guilty, he may lose the President-elect status and Korea would hold another presidential election this year.
State prosecutors have cleared him of all suspicion but, according to opinion polls, more than half of the Korean people say they believe he is guilty. But Lee won by a landslide, scoring 48 percent of all votes cast.
A video clip showed Lee giving a lecture at the Kwangwoon University in Seoul, during which he states that he founded BBK Asset Management, the firm at the center of the financial scam allegations.
In the video clip, Lee said, ``I established an investment advisory company, BBK in January this year (2000).''
The Grand National Party (GNP), to which Lee belongs, said they believe Lee will ultimately prove his innocence again.
Other parties such as the United New Democratic Party (UNDP) and the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) welcomed the endorsement.
Of 299 National Assemblymen, 160 lawmakers of the pro-government UNDP, the DLP and the Democratic Party (DP) voted for the bill. All 128 GNP legislators abstained from the vote.
President-elect Lee has warned that if he is cleared of all suspicions, they (UNDP leaders) should be held accountable for defaming him. The state prosecutor said in a statement that their investigation result clearing Lee of all fraud allegations will only be repeated again. However, the UNDP claim that Lee's ``wrongdoings'' will be made public.