Smoking gun for Choi scandal?

A Cheong Wa Dae official seals boxes containing documents, created by the former President Park Geun-hye government, to send them to the Presidential Archives, Friday. The presidential office said it found about 300 sensitive documents, some of which are related to the influence-peddling scandal involving Park and her confidant Choi Soon-sil, in an unused cabinet in Cheong Wa Dae earlier this month. / Courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae

Sensitive Cheong Wa Dae documents may affect trials of Samsung heir, ex-president

By Jun Ji-hye

The sensitive documents of the former Park Geun-hye government, found and disclosed by the Moon Jae-in administration, are expected to affect the ongoing trials of Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of Samsung Group, as well as Park and her close friend Choi Soon-sil.

Lee is facing charges of offering bribes to Park and Choi in return for business favors including facilitating his succession of power and wealth from his father, group Chairman Lee Kun-hee.

Park and Choi are also standing separate trials for their involvement in the Samsung bribery case and other charges.

All three of the suspects have been denying their bribery charges.

But some of more than 300 documents, created by the Park government, may be used as new evidence as they suggested the former government had at least sought to support a major merger deal between the Samsung subsidiaries.

President Moon’s spokesman, Park Soo-hyun, said Friday some documents stated an order, possibly from the former president, to “utilize Samsung’s management succession as an opportunity” and “seek ways to drive Samsung to contribute more to the national economy.”

Such an order is construed as referring to the National Pension Service’s (NPS) support of the conglomerate’s controversial merger of two units _ Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries.

The NPS, which held stakes in both of the subsidiaries, allegedly voted in favor of the merger that has been widely believed to have helped solidify Lee’s control over the nation’s largest conglomerate.

In return for the NPS’s support, Lee is suspected of offering bribes to the former president and Choi, and sponsoring Choi’s daughter, equestrian Chung Yoo-ra, for overseas training and the purchase of expensive horses.

Two former NPS officials, including former chief Moon Hyung-pyo, have been found guilty of causing enormous damage to the state-run pension fund by endorsing the merger.

The controversial merger was one of the cases in the massive corruption scandal involving the former president, which led to her removal in March.

“We believe the documents are related to the Choi Soon-sil scandal,” the spokesman said.

Cheong Wa Dae sent the copies of the documents to the prosecution.

If the documents are recognized as evidence, they could be critical in proving the involved figures’ illegalities.

For the documents to be recognized at trials, who wrote them and why should be confirmed first, according to legal experts.

Cheong Wa Dae said the documents, dated between June 2014 and June 2015, were found in a file cabinet in an office previously occupied by the presidential secretary for civil affairs.

This is raising expectations that Woo Byung-woo, the former senior secretary for civil affairs, could face reinvestigation after having avoided arrest twice.

Woo began to work at the division in May 2014 and was promoted to senior secretary in February 2015. He remained there for 20 months until he resigned in October last year following the outbreak of the scandal.

The prosecution has claimed that Woo exercised unlimited authority and power beyond what is permissible for the civil affairs secretary while assisting Park.