By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
The Grand National Party Tuesday took legal actions against five lawmakers of the pro-government Uri Party for their alleged involvement in the illegal leak of information regarding former Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak.
Lee's camp, however, said his wealth has nothing to do with his brother-in-law's activities and those who raised the suspicions should present clear evidence supporting his alleged connection to the case.
The main opposition GNP said the judiciary authority should probe thoroughly the illegal leak of classified documents.
The five lawmakers are Kim Hyuk-kyu, Park Young-sun, Song Young-gil, Kim Jong-yull and Kim Jae-yun, who raised suspicion last month during a plenary National Assembly, that Lee may be involved in stock manipulation and real estate speculation.
Submitting relevant documents to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, the opposition party urged the judiciary authority to investigate whether there is any room for illegal activities in the Kyunghyang Shinmun newspaper's access and coverage of information on real estate transactions by the former Seoul mayor's brother-in-law.
The newspaper ran exclusive coverage of the suspicions, indicating Lee may be linked to the purchase and transactions of real estate equal to one-fourth the size of Yeoido in Seoul.
Besides the suspicion, the newspaper also included additional suspicion that Lee was involved in fraudulent real estate transactions.
Dismissing the suspicion, Lee's camp said the frontrunner will overcome the property-fraud allegations and win the presidential election.
``The storm pounds the former Seoul mayor, and a wide variety of ill-grounded suspicions and illegal documents are rampaging,'' said Lee's spokesperson, Park Heong-joon.
Rep. Ahn Sang-soo, chief of the GNP's ad hoc committee to tackle possible smear campaigning, said, ``The documents these lawmakers used for their presentation at the Assembly session are off-limits to the public, and only related public authorities can have access to the information.''
He said the five lawmakers could have been able to acquire the related documents only through illegal methods.
Ahn said they used the illegally acquired information to spread false information in an effort to tarnish the image of the leading presidential contender.
The GNP urged the judiciary authority to investigate how they were able to gain access to the documents.
Ahn said his party is reviewing other suspicions that have been raised, and the party's response will be soon.