By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter

The prosecution on Monday called in a brother-in-law of former President Chun Doo-hwan for questioning over the slush funds Chun amassed during his presidency in the 1980s.

The questioning of Lee Chang-sok came after investigators found suspicious money in his bank account, which prosecutors believe is a part of the slush funds.

Chun was ordered by the Supreme Court in 1997 to pay 220.5 billion won in fines for illegal political funds he took from businesses, but has paid only 33 billion won.

Last week, Lee Soon-ja, Chun’s wife, paid about 13 billion won on behalf of her husband as investigators are closing in on the rest of the slush funds, which are currently believed to be managed by Lee and other relatives.

Facing money-laundering charges, the former first lady promised she would return an additional 7 billion won to the state.

Despite public anger, Chun has claimed he has no more money to pay back. Prosecutors suspect his aides and relatives are helping the former president keep the slush funds out of investigators’ reach.

Chun’s second son, Chun Jae-yong, is also facing trial on charges of tax evasion in relation to his father’s funds.

The junior Chun was indicted for evading 7.4 billion won in taxes when he inherited 16.7 billion won in national housing bonds from his grandfather, Lee Kyu-dong, in 2000, according to prosecutors. On May 12, the prosecution demanded a five-year prison term and 15 billion won in fines for Chun Jae-yong.

Prosecutors suspect the money inherited by the junior Chun had originated in Chun’s slush funds, which is estimated to be somewhere around 200 billion won. They said they will summon Chun for questioning soon to address some problems in the charges brought against the junior Chun. The prosecution plans to make it clear in the charges that the money given to Chun Jae-yong originally came from his father.

As Chun refused to pay the remaining fines, investigators have conducted an extensive search of bank accounts owned by Chun’s aides and relatives and uncovered about 20 billion won in slush funds.

Should Lee Soon-ja make her payments on behalf of her husband, the amount of the fines Chun has been ordered to pay will shrink to 167.2 billion won.

jj@koreatimes.co.kr