Park Yong-sung to be questioned

By Jung Min-ho

Park Yong-sung

Park Yong-sung, a former head of the Chung-Ang University Foundation, will be called in for questioning Friday as part of an investigation into alleged corrupt ties between the university and Doosan Group.

Doosan owns the university and Park is a former chairman of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office said that Park is suspected of giving money and valuables, worth hundreds of millions of won, to Park Bum-hoon, a former senior presidential secretary for education from 2011 to 2012, in return for privileges for the school.

Prosecutors believe Park Yong-sung was directly involved in bribing Park Bum-hoon, who was detained last week over various allegations, including abusing his authority, receiving bribes and embezzling funds.

Prosecutors have already secured emails they wrote to each other. One email Park Bum-hoon wrote to Park Yong-sung says, “Don’t worry. I’m doing my best to take care of Chung-Ang.”

Under the previous Lee Myung-bak administration, Park Bum-hoon allegedly abused his power to help Chung-Ang integrate its Seoul and Anseong campuses in 2012 by pressuring the Ministry of Education to approve the merger plan.

Thanks to him, Doosan Group was able to save tens of billions of won because it did not have to secure more land as the ministry initially required.

He is also suspected of peddling influence to help Chung-Ang’s acquisition of the Red Cross College of Nursing in 2012 without cutting the nursing school’s enrollment as the law required.

Prosecutors suspect that, in return, he received hundreds of millions of won from Doosan Group through a traditional music foundation, Mootsori, of which he is chief director, as well as gift cards worth 7 million won ($6,300).

He has also been accused of being given a non-executive director post at Doosan Engine, an affiliate of Doosan Group, in March of last year, and ownership of a 300 million won shopping area in Doosan Tower, central Seoul, unfairly over other bidders in 2011, under the name of his wife. The company has denied the allegations.

Adding to the suspicions, Chung-Ang and Yong In universities each hired his two daughters under questionable circumstances. Investigators have questioned officials at the two schools over the accusations.

Prosecutors are looking into how many bribes and how much special treatment given to Park Bum-hoon had been directly ordered by Park Yong-sung.