By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Former President Roh Moo-hyun's elder brother was indicted Monday on charges of taking bribes in connection with the sale of a securities firm to a state-supervised agricultural bank in 2006 during his younger brother's presidency.
Prosecutors also suspect that Roh Gun-pyeong, 66, embezzled 1.5 billion won (worth $1.5 million in 2006) from Jungwon Construction of which he is the de facto owner, to purchase shares in high-tech start-ups under borrowed names.
These additional wrongdoings were found in documents they discovered in a raid on the firm's head office early this month, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said in an interim report on its investigation of corruption involving the elder Roh and cronies of the former President.
The elder Roh was arrested on Dec. 4 on suspicion of taking three billion won in bribes in exchange for influencing the sale of Sejong Securities to Nonghyup.
The former President's longtime supporter Park Yeon-cha, 63, CEO of Taekwang, a Busan-based sneaker manufacturer, was also prosecuted for tax evasion and bribery.
Park was arrested on Dec. 12 for dodging tax of 29 billion won through allegedly illicit stock dealings and his off-shore business units. He admitted to making illegal money transactions during questioning.
He was also accused of giving two billion won to former Nonghyup Chairman Chung Dae-kun to solicit help in his bid to take over a subsidiary of the bank.
Chung, now serving a sentence in another bribery case, was indicted again. Nonghyup is the nation's largest farmers' cooperation and offers banking services. It is an independent organization but is overseen by the government.
This is the first high-profile corruption scandal that took place during Roh's term.
It resulted in tarnishing the name of the former president, who tried to ensure political integrity and eliminate corrupt practices.