Probe Widens Over KHNP Bribery Case
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
The prosecution Wednesday arrested a high-ranking official at Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP), a major player in the nation's power-generation market, on charges of taking bribes for favoring one of its suppliers in the United States.
Prosecutors are widening their probe into the company over the belief that the corrupt deal is not an isolated case.
The KHNP financial director, identified as Huh, is accused of taking 55 million won ($37,000) in bribes in April 2004 in exchange for favoring a U.S. valve supplier identified only as ``C.''
Hong Seung-myeon, a prosecutor at the Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office, cited his possible attempt to destroy evidence and flee as the primary reasons for his confinement.
The 52-year-old was then in charge of procuring equipment, including valves, needed to maintain nuclear power stations under his control. Aside from the bribery, prosecutors suspect he has received many other favors, including gift vouchers, a luxury pen and expensive whiskey from the supplier since 2000.
A prosecutor quoted a financial director at the U.S. firm as saying the money Huh had received was part of funds amounting to $57,658 that were transmitted from a bank in California to a Korean bank account on April 21, 2004.
The prosecutor added that it was tipped off that KHNP suppliers overseas had spent more than $1 million lobbying key decision makers at the Korean company, signaling that a widening probe into other officers is inevitable.
``We are tracing various bank accounts to find out the volume of funds spent lobbying Korean staff,'' another prosecutor said.