By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Former President Roh Moo-hyun's suicide brought the curtain down on the months-long investigation of his family for receiving bribes.
It was put to an end following his death Saturday in accordance with the code of criminal procedure. ``We will terminate all investigations involving former President Roh,'' a senior prosecutor said.
He said prosecution rules stipulate that an investigation must be closed if the prime suspect is dead. ``That's because there is no one we can file charges against,'' he said.
Shockwaves are also likely to affect related cases surrounding Taekwang CEO Park Yeon-cha, a close friend of Roh, and Chun Shin-il, CEO of Sejoong Namo Tour and a close friend of President Lee Myung-bak. ``We must reschedule our plans. Nothing is certain at the moment,'' the prosecutor said.
The resumption of investigations will be possible after Roh's funeral at the earliest.
Prosecutor General Lim Chae-jin and high-ranking prosecutors gathered at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seoul over the weekend to hold marathon meetings to establish a new direction. What they discussed has yet to be announced.
The prosecution was planning to seek an arrest warrant for Chun on suspicions of graft, influence peddling and tax evasion this week. He has been accused of receiving business favors from his associate, Park, in exchange for asking former National Tax Service Commissioner Han Sang-ryule to help him evade a tax audit between last July and November.
He allegedly discussed ways to suspend or scale down the audit together with Kim Jung-bok, the former chief of the tax office and Park's relative, and Lee Jong-chan, a former senior secretary to President Lee. The trio is suspected of having lobbied the top tax official.
Plans to indict high-ranking police officers, prosecutors and former and incumbent lawmakers suspected of taking bribes from Park will also be delayed.
Following Roh's death, the prosecution and domestic media have come under fire for what people call a ``reckless'' investigation and ``one-sided and irresponsible'' media reports.
A message board on the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Web site was bombarded with more than 1,800 messages denouncing its reckless handling of the bribery allegations leveled against Roh.
Many alleged that prosecutors had leaked information unfavorable to Roh to the media designed to corner him and tarnish his ``clean'' image.
One cynical message read, ``You made it prosecutor general. You should have a party!'' Another said, ``You (the prosecution) deserve to be blamed for killing our hero.''
Domestic media were no exception.
Many claimed most news reports were solely based on prosecution allegations and never listened to Roh and his aides.
``News reports significantly defamed Roh, describing him as a nationwide fraudster,'' said Kim Tae-wan, a Roh supporter. ``They were the same as malicious postings on the Internet.''