Seoul prosecutors probe Chun finances<\/p>\n
SEOUL (Reuter): After indicting former president Chun Doo Hwan
\nfor leading a 1979 coup, South Korean prosecutors were digging
\ninto his finances yesterday amid allegations that, like ex-
\npresident Roh Tae-woo, he also amassed huge slush funds.<\/p>\n
State radio quoted a senior prosecutor as saying Chun appeared
\nto have amassed 300 billion to 400 billion won (US$39 million to
\n$52 million) during his 1980-88 term in office.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor was also quoted as saying the actual amount
\nChun had allegedly stashed away was smaller than what Roh has
\nadmitted to amassing during his presidency but the value was
\n\"much higher\" when inflation was taken into account.<\/p>\n
This had been confirmed on Thursday when a prosecution team
\nquestioned Chun, who is now at the Police Hospital in Seoul,
\naccording to the radio.<\/p>\n
Roh has been detained and indicted on charges of accepting
\n$369 million from 35 business conglomerates after confessing that
\nhe built up $654 million during his 1988-93 tenure. His trial on
\nbribery charges started on Monday.<\/p>\n
The radio also said Chun is alleged to have hidden a huge
\namount of illicit funds in real estate and bonds under the names
\nof relatives. A Seoul prosecution official declined to comment on
\nthe reports, only confirming prosecutors had launched probes into
\nthe allegations over Chun's slush funds.<\/p>\n
Chun is in a police hospital under heavy guard after being
\nrushed from his jail cell on Wednesday night. He had been on a
\nhunger strike since his arrest on Dec. 3.<\/p>\n
\"He continues to refuse intravenous feeding and suffers
\ndehydration and malnutrition but his condition remains stable,\" a
\nhospital official said by telephone.<\/p>\n
\"But we are prepared to cope with any unexpected accident
\nconcerning his health as he is an aging man.\"<\/p>\n
\"Chun is still drinking only barley tea and milk,\" she said.<\/p>\n
On Thursday Chun was formally charged with mutiny for
\nmasterminding the coup that was followed in May 1980 by an army
\nmassacre of pro-democracy rebels in the city of Kwangju. Nearly
\n200 people were killed by official counts but Kwangju residents
\nsay the death toll is much higher.<\/p>\n
Along with Chun, Roh was also charged with playing a \"key
\nrole\" by pulling troops under his command off the border with
\nNorth Korea to back the putsch leaders.<\/p>\n
Both were also charged with murder and attempted murder for
\nattacks on superior officers and with ordering military units
\nmobilized without authorization.<\/p>\n
Mutiny and murder both carry the death penalty in South Korea,
\nalthough political analysts believe the disgraced former
\npresidents will receive long prison sentences, likely to be
\ncommuted after a few years.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/seoul-prosecutors-probe-chun-finances-1447893297",
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