By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter

LG Group secretly gave 15 billion won in illegal campaign donations to the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) during last year’s presidential election, prosecutors announced on Tuesday.

Sixty-two paper boxes, one with 1.2 billion won and the others with 2.4 billion won in 10,000-won bills, were delivered on a 2.5-ton truck one month before the December election to Seo Jung-woo, a legal advisor to GNP candidate Lee Hoi-chang, officials at the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office said. Seo was arrested Monday for receiving the illicit funds.

LG officials told investigators that the opposition party pressured their company to donate the money, after taking 3 billion won in official donations, the office said.

Prosecutors said at least two other conglomerates each gave more than 10 billion won to the GNP, and some smaller businesses donated 2 to 3 billion won through Seo.

Seo is also the vice chairman of a private campaign team for Lee, called the Pukuk Team. Seo and Lee Junk-lak, a Pukuk Team leader, played key roles in collecting political funds from businesses, prosecutors said. Seo and Lee Jung-lak changed careers to become lawyers after serving as judges under Lee Hoi-chang, a retired Supreme Court chief judge.

The prosecution said it may place an international travel ban on Lee Hoi-chang following a report that the opposition party accepted more than 70 billion won in illegal donations from businesses for its election campaign.

If the travel ban is issued, Lee will face a summons that will require him to answer questions about political funds transferred without proper accounting records, officials from the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office said.

Prosecutors suspect Reps. Kim Young-eil, Choi Don-woong and several other ranking GNP officials conspired with the lawyers to raise the donations.

The prosecution said they are calling in for questioning former GNP officials who managed campaign donations, because Seo has failed to give details surrounding the collection and use of the funds since his arrest.

Lee Hoi-chang, who recently returned from the United States, publicly apologized last month after prosecutors discovered the GNP had accepted at least 10 billion won from SK through Rep. Choi. Lee failed to give details of the total amount his party received from businesses, or whether he was aware of the illicit funds while they were being donated.

Samsung, LG, Hyundai Motor, Lotte, Hanwha, Hanjin and several other conglomerates are being investigated for an accounting fraud, which created slush funds specifically for campaign contributions. Investigators have raided subsidiaries and key offices of the conglomerates and seized financial documents, after company heads were reportedly uncooperative with the probe.

The prosecution is also making progress in its separate probe into corruption allegations surrounding President Roh Moo-hyun’s former aides.

Hong Ki-hoon, a pharmaceutical firm owner, was summoned for questioning on Tuesday over allegations that he delivered 200 million won to the GNP at the request of Sun & Moon Group vice-chairman Kim Sung-lae. Kim and the group’s chairman Moon Byung-wook, a high school alumnus of Roh, are said by prosecutors to have made illegal donations to political parties last year after laundering company money.

The prosecution also grilled Sun Bong-sul, former chairman of a mineral water firm once owned by Roh, on where he used money he is thought to have received from former Chong Wa Dae secretary Choi Do-sul. Choi allegedly gave 340 million won to Sun to help the struggling water firm, Changsuchon.

jj@koreatimes.co.kr