By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Former Uri Party lawmakers Yum Dong-yun, Lee Bu-young, Rev. Suh Kyung-suk, and Financial News President Chun Jae-ho were indicted without detention Tuesday for receiving bribes from JU Group, the nation's largest multi-level marketing firm.
The total amount of kickbacks that the group spent for lobbying lawmakers, their aides, and officials at Seoul City, tax authorities, police and prosecution reached 7 billion won.
The Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office announced its interim result of the probe into the lobby scandal, arresting 13 people including former Seoul Vice Mayor Kim Hee-wan and indicting 14 others including the four above without physical detention.
Yum received a painting worth 5 million won in early 2005 from JU Chairman Joo Soo-do, now in jail, who asked him to make tax authorities scrap their investigation into the group. He also forced a company to supply goods to JU Group at a below market price, helping JU earn 130 million won of profit, according to prosecutors.
Yum, who now leads a new party that the Democratic Party and Uri deserters' group created, also took 7 million won from an aide of Joo in March 2005, as well as receiving 30 million won from the aide under six different people's names.
Joo asked Lee to exercise influence in JU's business, such as allowing the group to explore oil fields in the Yellow Sea, revising a law governing multi-level marketing, and pardoning Joo.
In exchange for the requests, Joo gave Lee 210 million won under false-name bank accounts and donated 520 million won to an organization commemorating former democratic movement leader Chang Jun-ha. Lee is an advisor of the group.
Rev. Suh asked an official of the National Tax Service to review heavy taxes levied on the group at the request of Joo, who later donated 510 million won to a charity group, of which Rev. Suh is a representative.
Chun of the economy daily took 1.5 billion won from Joo by blackmailing him, demanding JU pay the money to the newspaper for not printing an investigation story concerning secrets of JU.
The prosecution will keep investigating allegations that more bribes were funneled to politicians through brokers.