Prosecution seeks to freeze ex-President Lee's asset

By Lee Kyung-min

The prosecution is seeking to freeze the personal assets of former President Lee Myung-bak who, if found guilty on bribery charges in the amount of 11 billion won ($10 million), could lose all of them. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office is expected to file an injunction with the Seoul Central District Court against Lee whose estimated assets are at least 4.6 billion won ($5.2 million).

Under the law, wealth accumulated by civil servants through illicit means is returned to state coffers. The statute of limitations was extended to 10 years from three years in 2013. The law prevents defendants from dissipating their assets before a conviction as a means not to comply with a court-ordered confiscation. If the court grants the request, Lee will not be able to sell or transfer the ownership of his property, or withdraw or transfer money from his bank accounts. The prosecution earlier sought a similar injunction against former President Park Geun-hye, a request granted by the court which seized her 5.8 billion won in asset including 1 billion won in bank accounts and 3 billion won in checks.

Meanwhile, the prosecution may question former first lady Kim Yoon-ok, following contradicting statements made by individuals questioned about 2.2 billion won in suspected bribes former Woori Financial CEO Lee Pal-sung paid in return for getting the CEO post. The prosecution believes former President Lee exerted undue influence on the financial institution in which the government was the largest shareholder at the time.

An earlier investigation found that Lee Myung-bak's son-in-law, Samsung Electronics senior executive Lee Sang-joo, delivered part of the money to Lee Sang-deuk, an elder brother of the ex-president, after he received it from a close aide of Lee Pal-sung. Further investigations uncovered that most of the money _ 2 billion won _ was paid through troubled shipbuilder Sungdong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co., currently under court receivership despite 9.6 trillion won in government loans granted by the Export-Import Bank of Korea (EXIM Bank) under the Lee administration.

The prosecution said it secured statements from the son-in-law that it delivered 500 million won to Kim, a claim she denied. Lee Myung-bak told prosecutors that he had no knowledge about the issue at all.

The allegation further corners the former first lady following a similar allegation raised by Kim Hee-jung, Lee's key former aide of 15 years, who said that he gave $100,000 he got from a National Intelligence Agency to a former female Cheong Wa Dae official who then gave it to her. She reportedly spent it on designer bags and other personal expenses.

In 2007, the former first lady was embroiled in an allegation raised by Liberty Korea Party (then the Grand National Party) Chairman Hong Joon-pyo that she wore diamond rings on her toes on overseas trips to avoid customs service inspections and high import taxes.

Meanwhile, the prosecution also secured what it believes to be incriminating evidence substantiating that Lee Myung-bak was the real owner of DAS, an auto parts maker used to channel all the illegal funding, following a statement from a former DAS head Kim Sung-woo, whose suspected involvement in delivering 35 billion won to Lee was largely corroborated. The former head had unexpectedly confessed that Lee owned DAS in a hand-written confession submitted to the prosecution, retracting earlier statements made during investigations in 2007 and 2008.