Korean scam: Too many unanswered questions

SEOUL: The prosecution has closed its investigation into the loan guarantee scandal involving former culture and tourism minister Park Jie-won, concluding that it all boils down to one man's attempt to veil his own corruption by trying to defame Park.

Announcing the results of the investigation Tuesday, prosecutors said they found no evidence that the former minister pressured the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, for which the man worked, to extend a loan guarantee to a business run by one of his relatives.

But as in other high-profile cases of alleged wrongdoing by political figures in the past, the results of the prosecution investigation fail to clear public suspicions over the case. The key question in the scandal is whether Park tried to exercise his influence in Arc World's quest for a loan guarantee.

Lee Un-young, a former branch manager of the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, has claimed that Park called him twice to pressure him to extend the loan guarantee.

He said he was forced to resign from the credit guarantee firm after he refused Park's request. He also claimed that he had been investigated by the special presidential police force in apparent retaliation for the denial.

The prosecution's investigation, however, falls short of answering the basic questions necessary to dispel public suspicion. Prosecutors refuted Lee's claim concerning Park's alleged phone calls, saying that Lee's claim could not be backed up by the evidence.

They said the documents Lee had presented to the prosecution to substantiate his claim could not be relied upon, as they contained contradictory statements on the dates when Park was alleged to have made calls to him. Prosecutors said they found Lee received about 27 million won in kickbacks from businesses in return for issuing credit guarantees to them. It seems he decided to raise the issue in order to cover up his own irregularities, prosecutors said.

What gives the prosecution's conclusion credibility is the dubious character of the forces that helped Lee during a year and six months in seclusion. While failing to present any new evidence on his allegations about Park, Lee was found to have been helped by a group of people who were laid off by the National Intelligence Service.

But questions still remain. Why would Lee decide to defame Park, and not others, to cover his own tracks? If Park had nothing to do with the case, then why did he meet one of Lee's friends three times while Lee was on the run, attempting to avoid what he said was political oppression against him?

Park has said he met Chi Chan-gyong, who had helped Lee while he was hiding out, to seek a quiet settlement because he didn't want to become embroiled in a scandal. But his explanation isn't strong enough to clear him of charges.

Motivations behind the probe of Lee by the special presidential police force are not clear, either. The prosecution said Lee Ki-nam, a member of the police squad, took about 6.5 million won from a "rival" of Lee Un-young who asked him to investigate his wrongdoing. But the police officer denies that he was bribed. The prosecution arrested and indicted Lee Ki-nam for taking bribes and abusing his official power, however.

Moreover, it is hard to believe that the special presidential police squad, which is aimed at investigating the irregularities of family members and relatives of the President and high-ranking government officials, was moved to conduct an investigation into a branch manager of a financial firm by a bribe of just 6 million won. Also unclear is how Lee Un-young was able to hide himself for such a long time.

The prosecution admitted to the shortcomings of its investigation and said it would continue to explore the case by setting up a task force. But settlement of the issue now seems to have been largely left to the political circle.

The ruling and opposition parties are said to have agreed to conduct a parliamentary investigation of this and other scandals involving former minister Park during the current Assembly session.

But we remember that most of the parliamentary probes into major scandals ended up as political shows. We hope the same thing does not happen again this time around. Politicians should remember that no secret lasts forever.

-- The Korea Herald / Asia News Network