Lee Myung-bak aide under corruption probe

By Kim Se-jeong

Park Bum-hoon

Park Bum-hoon, former senior presidential secretary for education, is being investigated for allegedly pressing education officials to give favors to Chung-Ang University, where he served as a president.

Prosecutors said Friday they searched Park’s home and the offices of the Ministry of Education and the university and confiscated computer hard disks and documents.

Park is also expected to be summoned for questioning as early as next week, according to the prosecution.

Park worked as the university’s president for six years, from 2005-2011, before being named as a senior presidential secretary for then-President Lee Myung-bak. He served in the post until 2013. Park was a key campaigner for Lee during the presidential election in 2007.

The prosecution is focusing on various allegations surrounding Park.

He is suspected of pressing the education ministry to approve Chung-Ang’s plan to merge the university’s two campuses in Seoul and Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, in 2012.

At the time, the ministry raised a conditional objection to the merger plan, saying the university should have an extra piece of land first to house buildings in order to obtain the approval. The prosecution suspects that Park influenced the ministry to change rules to enable the university to merge the campuses without buying land, and thus save tens of billions of won in cost. He is also accused of pressuring the ministry to help Chung-Ang construct a new dormitory for international students.

Park allegedly asked the ministry to relocate some ministry officials who opposed the project to provincial cities.

The prosecution is also looking into a couple of other alleged corruption scandals involving Park.

He is accused of embezzling the university’s foundation’s money in 2008. When he was the university president, Park donated one of his personal properties in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, to an anonymous art association. The art organization erected a training center for artists on the property with the financial help from Yangpyeong’s local government. The amount is estimated at 950 million won ($860,987). He allegedly changed the ownership of the land and the building to the school’s foundation where he was serving as a chairman.

Also, the prosecution suspects Park of pressuring the culture ministry to help his friends and acquaintance win projects and grants in exchange for money and gifts.