Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
Seongnam mayor faces questioning
By Lee Kyung-min
Lee Jae-myung
By Lee Kyung-min
Seongnam mayor Lee Jae-myung will be questioned today over an allegation that he helped a cleaning service firm which allegedly had ties to the now-defunct Unified Progressive Party (UPP) win a contract from the city government in 2011, the prosecution said Thursday.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said that it plans to ask Lee about how the firm, Nanum Environment, won the contract. The firm was founded in December 2010 by Han Yong-jin, a former co-chairman of a fraternity group named the Eastern Gyeonggi Union, a faction of the UPP.
The summons came after the prosecution said it found suspected money trails from the firm to the Revolutionary Organization (RO), an underground organization former UPP member Lee Seok-ki and others set up to “overthrow” the government.
Lee allegedly exerted undue influence to help the firm win the contract with the city government, the prosecution said.
The allegations were first raised in May 2012 by the Seoul Newspaper, a local daily, which Lee denied.
In 2013, following the daily’s report, the mayor filed a defamation suit against the newspaper, and vice versa.
Both Suwon District Court and Seoul High Court ruled in favor of the daily, and the Supreme Court is now reviewing their case.
In a statement, Lee said, “There was nothing illegal about the selection process. The contractor had won certificates from the government. Even a councilor from the ruling Saenuri Party gave approval during the screening process.”
The reporters who ran the story have also been called in for questioning, the prosecution said.