By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
The mystery is growing over a CJ Group accountant hiring hitmen to kill a gangster who failed to pay back a loan drawn of funds belonging to the group's chairman. Prosecutors are now looking into the possibility that the money was part of a slush fund created by CJ's head.
In August 2006, the former accountant, a 40-year-old Lee, who managed the nearly 20 billion won for CJ CEO Lee Jay-hyun, lent 18 billion won of the money to a gangster, Park, who promised to pay it back with high interest.
According to police, Lee, who lent the money without the knowledge of his boss, hired two men to kill Park after he only paid back 10 billion won. However both failed to do so.
It was found later that Lee borrowed an additional 10.5 billion won from banks under a CJ affiliate's name after Park suggested they purchase land on Ganghwa Island the price of which was likely to soar.
The use of the CJ affiliate has led prosecutors to suspect that the chairman knew what was happening, considering tens of billions of won of his wealth were used.
When Lee urged Park to pay the money back, Park allegedly threatened him, saying he knew the money was part of the CEO's slush fund and that he would disclose this, according to the prosecution. It suspects Lee attempted to kill Park to keep him quiet rather than to get the money back.
One of the hitmen also testified that Lee asked him to kill Park and obtain his bag, in which evidence of the slush fund was likely to be kept.
How the CEO raised the money however remains a mystery. CJ, a former Samsung affiliate, said it was wealth handed down from Lee Jay-hyun's grandfather and Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull and had been kept in borrowed-name bank accounts. It said the group reported the hidden wealth to the tax authorities and paid overdue taxes.
But the group did not disclose the total amount of the CEO's hidden wealth. Police are examining about 30 accounts registered under CJ executives' names, which are suspected of having been used to manage secret funds.