Why Does Chung Staging Fight Against Prosecutors?

By Park Si-soo

Staff Reporter

What made a 52-year-old businessman, who handed a list of the names of bribe-taking prosecutors to MBC TV’s “PD Notebook” staffers, stage an all-out fight against the “corrupt” prosecutors?

The businessman, identified only by his surname Chung, saw his construction firm flourish and was elected member of South Gyeongsang province council in 1991 thanks largely to his connection with senior prosecutors.

Given the achievements, his decades-long “sponsorship” of prosecutors appeared to be quite rewarding and successful.

But in the investigative TV report, which aired Tuesday night and immediately caused the prosecution to look into the allegations, Chung said, “They didn’t help him out when he was in trouble.”

Act of Betrayal

Chung was punished several times over the past decades for a variety of charges. The latest case was in 2005. He is now being prosecuted, with his detention temporarily suspended due to health problems.

He said in the program when he got into trouble, none of the prosecutors he had sponsored were willing to rescue him.

“I saw it as an act of betrayal so I decided to do this,” Yonhap News Agency quoted him as saying.

It seems that the disclosure was premeditated and took a while to prepare.

To support his allegations, he provided documents containing the exact dates, amounts of money and to whom it was given.

He also recorded sensitive conversations between him and sponsored prosecutors over the phone. The oldest records date back to 2006.

Affected prosecutors said that the comments in the program were entirely groundless and that Chung had malicious intent.

In response, Chung said, “No matter what drove me to disclose the information, the morality of the listed prosecutors cannot be recovered.”

The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Wednesday formed a fact-finding team after the investigative TV journal reported on ― based on interviews with Chung ― nearly 100 former and incumbent prosecutors who had allegedly accepted money and sexual entertainment as bribes from him between 1984 and 2009.