Lee Myung-bak to attend hearing Wednesday

By Lee Kyung-min

Former President Lee Myung-bak will attend a hearing of his corruption trial, facing a wide range of charges including bribery totaling 11 billion won ($10.5 million) and embezzlement in 35 billion won. Seoul Central District Court will hold the first official hearing at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Lee, according to his defense attorneys, is expected to deliver his opinion on the charges at the beginning of the hearing. Unlike three prior pre-trial court hearings, which Lee had no obligation to appear, failure to attend Wednesday's proceeding will hold him in contempt, or the judges could continue the trial following a determination that Lee has waived his right to self-defense.

The prosecution and the defense will each give their 40-minute opening arguments, followed by an evidence review including written documents and witness testimony. In what is expected to be at least a six-hour proceeding, the presiding judge will hear opinions from both on the charges specified in the indictment documents.

At least two hearings will be held a week, possibly up to three, at the discretion of the presiding judge after taking into consideration the volumes of evidence, number of witnesses and their availability as well as Lee's health.

Lee faces 16 charges including bribery, abuse of power, embezzlement, breach of trust and tax evasion as well as violations of the election and presidential records laws.

Prosecutors suspect Lee received around 700 million won in bribes from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) via his closest aides, many of whom have confessed to their roles in delivering the money to him. Lee only admitted to receiving $100,000 from the NIS through an aide.

Lee is also suspected of having received 2.26 billion won from former Woori Financial CEO Lee Pal-sung in return for helping him obtain his post by exerting undue influence on the financial institution. At the time, the government was its largest shareholder.

Prosecutors suspect Lee is the de facto owner of DAS, an auto parts company owned by his brother on paper, and that the former president used it to commit a wide range of corrupt activities, a claim he denies. Prosecutors suspect Lee managed a 33.9 billion won slush fund, which was part of 34.9 billion won embezzled from DAS.

Samsung Group, prosecutors said, paid $5.85 million (6.8 billion won) as a retainer to U.S. law firm Akin Gump, of which it was a major client, to help Lee recover 14 billion won in what could have been a failed investment.

This was in return for a presidential pardon for group Chairman Lee Kun-hee in 2009, the prosecution claims, following statements form former Samsung Group Vice Chairman Lee Hak-soo, who confessed the firm under his leadership paid legal fees to help the then-president.

DAS was among the few entities that recovered its initial investment in full during his term, which prosecutors believe was the result of mobilizing Cheong Wa Dae and foreign ministry resources. This helped Lee avoid the fate of 5,500 investors who lost an aggregate of 100 billion won in 2001 in a stock price manipulation scandal.

Lee faces abuse of power charges following confiscation of more than 3,400 documents from the basement of the Yeongpo Building in Seocho, southern Seoul. Boxes with words “DAS” and “BH,” short for Blue House, the presidential office, contained documents that prosecutors say show Lee lent 12.3 billion won _ interest-free _ in DAS and affiliates' funds to a company owned by his son, Lee Si-hyung, one of many business favors granted to the junior Lee by his father, which could constitute embezzlement and breach of trust.

The prosecution said the documents showed Cheong Wa Dae under the Lee administration discussed detailed plans to hand over DAS shares to his son following the death of Kim Jae-jeong, Lee Myung-bak's brother-in-law, who held a nearly 49 percent stake in DAS. This, the prosecution believes, is clear evidence of abuse of power because Cheong Wa Dae officials would have no reason to review such a strategy unless Lee Myung-bak had directed them.

A close aide of Lee who managed his personal assets confessed that Lee owned land under a “borrowed” name in Dogok-dong, southern Seoul. The aide said the land sale proceeds were funneled into DAS, substantiating the prosecution's supposition the ex-president owned the company.

Meanwhile, Wednesday marks the ninth anniversary of the suicide of former President Roh Moo-hyun, who many believed was left with few options following what liberals dubbed “harsh and dehumanizing” questioning only about a year into the Lee administration.

The questioning was led by Woo Byung-woo, the corruption-ridden former presidential secretary for civil affairs under the Park Geun-hye administration, who “infamously” said, “You are not here as a former president, nor are you here as my senior colleague for passing the state-administered bar exam. You are nothing but a suspected criminal sitting here over a bribery allegation.”

Roh committed suicide on May 23, 2009, amid an intensified prosecution investigation into a bribery allegation that his family received about $6 million from businessman Park Yeon-cha in return for business favors.