By Lee Hyo-sik
Prosecutor General Kim Joon-gyu has asked his Cambodian counterpart to help Korean prosecutors investigate a foiled real estate development project financed by a corruption-ridden savings bank in the Southeast Asian nation, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said Sunday.
Kim has also sought cooperation from the Attorney General of Cambodia’s Supreme Court Chhuon Chantha, who was here to attend the 4th World Summit of Prosecutors General, Attorneys General and Chief Prosecutors’ Office, on the prosecution’s efforts to track down assets hidden by Korean businessmen and politicians there, estimated to be tens of billions of won.
“During a bilateral meeting held Saturday, Kim asked his Cambodian counterpart to support our probe into why Busan Mutual Savings Banks invested huge sums of money in a large scale property development project in Cambodia and how the plan went sour. Kim also asked Cambodian law enforcement authorities to help trace and retrieve assets stashed by Korean nationals there,” an official at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said.
According to the prosecution, the savings bank invested 353 billion won ($321 million) in a residential development scheme in 2005 through a special-purpose company. It also put 66 billion won into an airport development in 2007. But both projects have been suspended.
A day earlier, Kim held talks with his Hong Kong counterpart, asking him to facilitate Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC)’s sharing of financial data on Deutsche Bank over the German bank’s alleged stock market manipulation here in November last year.
On May 13, prosecutors here and SFC officials reached an agreement to jointly investigate Deutsche Bank’s alleged manipulation of stock prices, designed to realize tens of billions won in illicit profits at the expense of other investors.
Investigators have summoned 10 Deutsche Bank officials in New York and Hong Kong for questioning over their alleged role in derivative trading by its Korean subsidiary. But Deutsche Bank has been refusing to let their employees be questioned by Korean prosecutors.
Earlier, Prosecutor General Kim requested his Canadian counterpart that the Canadian authorities repatriate lobbyist Park Tae-gyu implicated in illegal lobbying of politicians and senior government officials for the Busan Mutual Savings Banks.
Park fled to Canada on March 12, several days before the prosecution began investigating the savings bank. Park allegedly received 1 billion won from the lender.