By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
An aide of former President Roh Moo-hyun is suspected of having exercised influence through Cho Young-joo, the KTF chief arrested for bribery in getting an acquaintance employment.
It is the first time that a key figure of the previous administration has been implicated in the bribery case involving KTF.
Lee Kang-chul, the former senior presidential secretary for civic and social affairs, allegedly asked Cho if he could recommend one of his acquaintances _ also named Lee _ for a job at a KTF subcontractor, according to the prosecution.
``The subcontractor owner, identified as Jeon, who was arrested for providing 2.5 billion won in kickbacks to Cho, recently testified to this,'' a prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said Monday.
According to Jeon, Cho asked him to hire Lee at his company, saying it was a request from the former presidential aide, the prosecutor said. Jeon hired Lee, who did practically no work, and gave him upwards of tens of millions of won in monthly salary.
The request was made when the former secretary was working at Cheong Wa Dae. Lee is Cho's high school alumnus.
A Seoul court issued an arrest warrant for Cho, Monday, and prosecutors will question him about the employment request, and whether Roh's former aide made it. If they conclude the request was an abuse of authority, they are likely to summon the former Cheong Wa Dae official for interrogation. Cho, meantime, resigned from his post at KTF the same day.
The prosecution will soon begin tracing the money flow in Lee's bank accounts to see who actually used the ``salary.''
Cho allegedly received 2.5 billion won from Jeon in borrowed-name accounts and raised slush funds by embezzling corporate funds.
Jeon was also found to have embezzled 6 billion won from his company. He said all the money was for personal use, but prosecutors suspect he gave it to other KTF executives, government officials and politicians.
Cho is suspected of having lobbied administrative or political figures with the money he embezzled and received from Jeon. It is rumored that the money was funneled to presidential aides of the previous administration.
KTF is one of a dozen businesses being targeted during the prosecution's anti-corruption investigation. These are often conducted at the beginning of a new administration to unwind the previous government's ``collusive'' connections.