The late President Roh Moo-hyun jumped to his death from a cliff when prosecutors found out that he had a hidden bank account, a local newspaper said.
Cho Hyun-oh, President Lee Myung-back’s new nominee for the chief of the police, reportedly said that the prosecutors discovered, the day before Roh committed suicide, a new banking account belonging to him, but registered with a false name.
“Wasn’t it the case that a new banking account by Roh, under a borrowed name, was discovered the day before Roh jumped off (from a cliff)?” Cho said in a speech he gave in March, Chosun Ilbo newspaper said.
“It was a huge amount∼including (many) 100,000-won checks,” the report said on Saturday, citing a video tape that recorded his speech.
Cho’s speech was later made into a lecture CD and distributed to police stations for educational purposes, but they were later retrieved, it said.
In a telephone conversation with the newspaper, Cho said he didn’t remember he said so. But he added: “The lecture was intended for internal audience only. I am sorry for the late President Roh for it leakage to the media.”
The prosecutor’s office told the newspaper the media report is inaccurate, adding Cho was not in a position at that time to know the details of the ongoing investigation, it said.
Roh was known as a conscientious political leader, who openly criticized corruption in politics. However, prosecutors discovered that his family members received bribes, putting Roh into shame that proved to be fatal.
The ex-president committed suicide by jumping off from a rocky cliff last year. Some argue that the investigation into Roh’s corruption was politically motivated.