Parties Open Fire on Lee Myung-baks Shady Deals
By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
Parties opened fire Monday on Lee Myung-bak, presidential candidate of the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP), after his lawyer requested that a U.S. court delay the extradition of Lee's business partner Kim Kyung-jun. Kim, once extradited, will face questioning on the allegations of business malfeasance, in the ``BBK financial fraud case.''
The United New Democratic Party (UNDP) called the GNP deceptive, saying the major opposition party tried to prevent Kim from returning to Seoul while openly saying Lee has no connection with the BBK case.
UNDP Chairman Oh Chung-il said, ``Lee has no qualification to be the president because he has suspicion after suspicion.''
Oh urged Lee to bring Kim back to Seoul so that he can reveal the truth. The UNDP alleges Lee was involved with Kim's manipulation of the stock price of investment company BBK, something the GNP denies.
Rep. Park Young-sun of the UNDP, a confidant of the party's presidential candidate Chung Dong-young, beefed up the attack on Lee, claiming that Lee laundered money through an offshore fund called MAF.
``The BBK invested much of its capital in MAF,'' Park said in an Assembly inspection of the National Tax Service. ``Lee was a major stockholder of the Lke Bank, which dominated MFA through cross-shareholdings and actually operated the BBK.''
She said Lee is suspected of evading tax during the operation.
Yoo Jong-pil, spokesman of the Democratic Party, said the deception by the Lee camp suggests that he is not clean in the BBK case.
The Democratic Labor Party also criticized Lee for seeking to paper over his alleged financial wrongdoings.
The GNP again showed indifference to the allegations.
GNP spokeswoman Na Kyung-won said Kim's return will not make any difference because the GNP and Lee are innocent. ``The GNP doesn't care whether or not, or when Kim returns home,'' she added.
But Lee reportedly was angry with his staff over their approach to the issue. Though Lee told reporters on the weekend that Kim should follow legal procedures in Korea, his aides tried to block Kim's return.
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department, which holds the key to the extradition, remained silent given the issue's sensitivity to the presidential race here.
On a report that Kim is likely to be extradited around Nov. 26 when the presidential contenders make official registration of their candidacy, Yonhap News Agency quoted a State Department official as saying he has no idea.
Asked if the State Department had reached a conclusion of the matter, the official said it was not the right time to answer that question.
Another source in legal affairs in Washington also said that there are reports that Kim will return to Seoul in late November, but it has not been officially confirmed.
The source added that when Kim will be extradited is totally dependent on U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.