Ex-President Lee Myung-bak to be questioned on March 14

Former President Lee Myung-bak / Yonhap

By Jung Min-ho

Former President Lee Myung-bak will be summoned next Wednesday for questioning by the prosecution.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said Tuesday that it will question Lee, 76, who is accused of playing a central role in many illegal activities during his five-year term, at 9:30 a.m. on March 14.

“It is necessary to investigate him to uncover the truth,” a prosecution official said. “We’ve collected enough evidence to believe that he was involved in the cases we are looking into.”

Lee, who was in office from 2009-2013, is suspected of receiving “black budgets” from the National Intelligence Service and misappropriating the money. One former aide, Kim Baek-joon, has already been indicted on this charge. But prosecutors suspect Kim only delivered the money to his boss, Lee.

Lee is also accused of using DAS, an auto parts company, to collect and manage slush funds.

He is the country’s fifth president prosecutors will have questioned over corruption allegations.