By Park Si-soo
A former vice minister denied his involvement in a stock price rigging scam Friday in which the state auditor pinpointed a ranking diplomat as the prime suspect a day earlier.
Park Young-joon, former vice minister of knowledge economy, is believed to have played a role, along with Ambassador for Resources Kim Eun-seok, in inflating stock prices of a KOSDAQ-listed firm developing a diamond mine in Cameroon with a press release based on deliberately exaggerated data on the mine’s value.
The statement was issued on Dec. 17, 2010, sending shares of CNK International soaring.
Park travelled to the African nation in May 2010 to discuss the mine’s development with Cameroon’s prime minister. Park is soon to be questioned by the prosecution. Kim is set to face a disciplinary committee, as requested by the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) that called for his dismissal.
“I have nothing to do with the scandal,” Park said. “I had no idea about the foreign ministry’s press release prior to its issuance. Also I didn’t instruct the issuance of the statement, a fact which Ambassador Kim has confirmed.”
Park is a close aide to President Lee Myung-bak. His alleged involvement in the unsavory matter has become a major election-year embarrassment for Lee who is grappling with lame duck status.
The BAI inspected the case for nearly two months and concluded Thursday that Kim closely consulted with Park while writing the press release.
“I just had casual talks with Kim because he was a key partner while pushing forward energy diplomacy,” Park said.
Other key suspects to be questioned include CNK Chairman Oh Deok-kyun and Cho Joong-pyo, a former vice foreign minister.
Oh is suspected of having earned a whopping 80.3 billion won ($72.9 million) from insider trading. Cho and his family members are also believed to have made nearly 1 billion won in illicit gains through the manipulation of the share price.
The Ministry of Justice has slapped overseas travel bans on those involved in the scam.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said he was not involved in an alleged cover-up as he had requested an audit into the stock manipulation scandal involving officials at his ministry.
Independent lawmaker Jeong Tae-keun attacked the minister and two vice ministers for allegedly hiding the truth behind the scandal.
Minister Kim said he accepts the results of the audit and offered to “take responsibility for anything I must be held accountable for.”
However, he declined to comment on whether he will step down over the issue.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Cho Byung-jae said the ministry will be “stern and merciless” in punishing those responsible under the principle of zero-tolerance.