Arrest Warrant Sought for Former Tax Agency Chief for Bribery
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
The prosecution sought an arrest warrant for former tax agency chief Lee Joo-sung Tuesday on charges of receiving kickbacks.
The warrant request comes after prosecutors questioned him for 15 hours a day earlier.
Lee, former commissioner of the National Tax Service (NTS), allegedly received an apartment worth 1.9 billion won ($1.4 million) from the head of Prime Group in exchange for helping in the company's bid to take over Daewoo Engineering and Construction.
Prime head Baek Jong-heon sought Lee's influence for the bid in November 2005 through a constructor, identified only as Ki. About two months later, Lee asked Ki to get him a 55-pyeong (181 square meters) apartment in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul. Ki selected several apartments, and Lee picked one. Lee had the apartment registered under the name of a relative of Shinsegae Vice President Huh Yin-cheol, who is Lee's friend.
In purchasing the apartment, Ki borrowed the money from a financial affiliate of Prime Group. Prime, however, failed to acquire Daewoo in July 2006. But even afterward, Lee owned the apartment under the false name before selling it in March this year.
Prosecutors investigated Huh as well. It was found earlier that Lee had opened bank accounts under Huh's name, and the prosecution is examining the source of the money in the accounts.
The apartment was not the only item that Lee took from Ki. In March 2006 when he was the head of the NTS, he leased an apartment owned by Ki. He told Ki that his wife had selected some stereo equipment and furniture for the new house, and Ki paid about 58 million won for the luxury items, including a Bang & Olufsen stereo and an Ethan Allen sofa. Lee still lives in the house.
Lee also gave a list of high-ranking public officials to Ki and demanded Ki send presents to them on behalf of him on holidays. Ki paid 15 million won for the presents.
The former top taxman denies the charges, but prosecutors said they obtained enough testimony to confirm the charges from Huh, Ki and Baek.