Top Prosecutor Nominee Accused of Irregularities
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Opposition party lawmakers shed light on some of Kim Joon-kyu's alleged unethical indiscretions while questioning the top prosecutor nominee Monday.
Legislators of the governing Grand National Party (GNP), meanwhile, tried to defend President Lee Myung-bak's pick and focused on testing his leadership to see if he is strong enough for the tough job.
During a hearing at a National Assembly committee, lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) said that Kim was a self-serving, unethical prosecutor who has violated the law.
Rep. Park Young-sun accused the designate of evading taxes and intentionally failing to submit credit card statements that she had requested earlier.
Park claimed that the designate's wife and even his married daughter, who were ineligible for tax returns, received tax benefits by taking advantage of loopholes.
The lawmaker also contended the nominee broke the law when he purchased an apartment in Seoul under preferential conditions for which only homeless people were eligible.
``Kim is here to get parliamentary approval for the designation as prosecutor general. Given that he broke rules and violated the law on several occasions, I doubt if he is qualified to lead prosecutors,'' she emphasized.
Nominee Kim said it was regrettable that he was unable to pay much attention to his family's tax returns, adding he told his family to pay any taxes owed.
But he denied the allegations about the house, arguing that his family were renting before he purchased the new house.
Earlier, Kim admitted to violating the law governing registered addresses to get his two girls to attend middle schools located in wealthy southern Seoul, and expressed his regrets.
Opposition lawmakers said suspicions on Kim's ethics were snowballing as more and more unethical actions are found in his financial transactions and records.
Rep. Chough Soon-hyung of the Liberty Forward Party (LFP) complained that the suspicions remain unproven, mainly because Kim hasn't submitted the data that he and his fellow lawmakers asked for.
Chough said he called on Kim to submit financial documents regarding his father-in-law to see if the relative was financially sound enough to provide his son-in-law with 500 million won worth of bonds back in 1998 as Kim claimed.
``The nominee didn't turn in the data to me, claiming he was not familiar with his father-in-law's financial status. Why on earth would he answer like this to lawmakers who were screening his qualifications?'' he said.
Rep. Park Jie-won of the DP said the nominee had traveled to foreign countries 22 times in total in the last five years and stayed 171 days abroad. Park said he would like to know if they were business trips or he went there for leisure.
``I was unable to figure out Kim's purpose for those foreign visits because he didn't turn in documents to me,'' Park said.
Members of the committee are scheduled to adopt an approval or disapproval document today.
But their approval or disapproval will not have a direct effect on President Lee Myung-bak's appointment because the screening hearing is not binding.