Suicide Adds Twist to Corrupti

In an apparent suicide, police lieutenant Kang Hee-do, an aide to Korea��s No.2 police official was found dead near his house in Wonju, Kwangwon Province, Saturday morning.

The death comes after allegedly increasing suspicions that his boss had been involved in a corruption scandal involving a now-jailed lobbyist.

Prosecutors are concerned whether this latest incident will influence their investigation over the case by scratching their already touchy relationship with police.

They have been considering summoning National Police Agency (NPA) vice commissioner-general Choi Kwang-sik, currently the acting head of the police agency, for questioning over his connections with imprisoned lobbyist Yoon Sang-rim.

Kang had refused a summons the previous day by prosecutors who were planning to ask if he had a role in relaying Choi��s money to Yoon, currently in prison on influence-peddling charges. Yoon was a well-known lobbyist in judicial circles.

``We believe that Kang had killed himself, bending to mental pressure related to the anticipated questioning process by investigators. We have enough knowledge to believe that Kang was involved in some way in the financial transactions between Choi and Yoon,�� said a prosecution official.

``We can��t make a decision on whether or not to summon Choi for questioning at this point, as we need further knowledge on the transactions,�� he said.

In a suicide note found at Kang��s Seoul office, he accused prosecutors of framing corruption charges against him. However, as he wrote that he had borrowed money and received ``allowances�� from his boss to invest in stocks, the note also hints he had been receiving money regularly from Choi.

There were suspicions Choi used Kang to pass his money to a borrowed-name bank account of Yoon, arrested last November for receiving bribes from businessmen for influence-peddling using his connection with police authorities, prosecutors and other public servants.

According to prosecutors, Kang sent money to the bank account of a local businessmen identified as Park, who was close to Choi, last March.

In July, Park had sent money to the borrowed-name account kept by Yoon after Choi told him to, according to prosecutors. Investigators have been trying to confirm whether the two transactions are linked.

Kang, who joined the police in 1991, became Choi��s executive assistant last December after the deputy police chief assumed the role as the acting head of the NPA when former police chief Huh Joon-young was pressured to step down over the deaths of two protestors killed by police during an anti-globalization rally.

Kang had been a close aide to Choi since they first worked together in the Kyonggi Provincial Police Agency in 2001.

In his arrest last year, Yoon was charged with extorting 900 million won ($885,000) from a local construction company in exchange for influencing a police probe into the company��s financial records. Yoon is also accused of receiving money from another company in exchange for helping them win military construction contracts.

Last week, prosecutors found that Choi gave 20 million won to Yoon in a loan last year, a charge he later admitted.

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Korea Times - South Korea22 January 2006

Suicide Adds Twist to Corrupti

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Korea Times - South Korea
22 January 2006