By Lee Hyo-sik
A former agriculture minister, suspected of receiving bribes from a jailed businessman and illegally withdrawing deposits from a failed savings bank, was found dead in an apparent suicide, Monday.
According to the police, Im Sang-gyu, president of Sunchon National University, was found dead in his car in the southwestern city of Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, early Monday morning.
Police said Im took his own life by inhaling toxic fumes from burning coal briquettes inside the vehicle.
“We will decide whether to perform an autopsy for the exact cause of death after consulting with the bereaved family. But it appears that he took his own life, considering the car doors were locked from the inside and there were no external wounds,” police officer Yang Seong-woo said, announcing interim results of the investigation into the death.
The officer said a suicide note was found in Im’s car. It read, “My situation is regretful and unfortunate. It is like I am being trapped by an evil force. This tragedy all began from a wrong encounter with the wrong people. But there was no money transaction.”
He also wrote, “People around me are also suffering greatly from all this. To keep my pride and minimize damage to the university, I would like to depart early.”
Im has been under investigation on charges of receiving 20 million won ($18,000) in bribes from Yoo Sang-bong, who was arrested for lobbying high-ranking police officials, politicians and construction executives, in exchange for helping him win licenses for restaurants at construction sites.
Additionally, prosecutors have also alleged that a total of 150 million won from Yoo’s bank account was transferred to that of Im’s brother, who runs a construction firm, on two occasions in 2005 and 2007. Under such suspicion, Im has been banned from leaving the country.
However, he reportedly denied the allegations, arguing that Yoo was an acquaintance and that he borrowed money from the jailed broker to buy an apartment.
The former minister has also been suspected of illegally withdrawing 50 million won from Busan Mutual Savings Bank in late January, right before the bank’s business was suspended.
Prosecutors alleged that Im was able to withdraw money ahead of the suspension because he was tipped off by insiders.
He is related by marriage to Park Yeon-ho, chairman of the Busan Mutual Savings Bank. Park was arrested for lobbying high-ranking government officials and politicians to avoid punishment for its illegal loans and other financial wrongdoings. He held the agriculture minister post between August 2007 and February 2008 under the late former President Roh Moo-hyun.
Puzzled by Im’s death, the prosecution stressed its investigations have nothing to do with it.
A prosecutor at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office, which has been looking into the Yoo Sang-bong scandal, said investigators never summoned him for questioning.
An investigator at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office involved in the savings bank probe said he questioned Im for only two hours about how he was able to withdraw money from Busan Mutual before the bank’s suspension.
Im’s funeral service will be held at the university’s gymnasium at 10 a.m., Thursday.