The prosecution, which has been investigating the ruling Saenuri Party’s money-for-nomination scandal, is looking into another similar case now, this time involving the main opposition Democratic United Party. It is a matter of course for the law-enforcement agency to deal sternly with any attempt to buy a seat in the National Assembly ― one of the worst political crimes.
The prosecution must determine in this case whether money changed hands in a failed attempt to buy nominations, as it suspects, or through embezzlement by an impostor, as the opposition party claims.
The prosecution says it started a new investigation when it was recently tipped off that a businesswoman connected to key opposition figures took 3.2 billion won from three political aspirants, promising to lobby the opposition party for their nominations ahead of the April 11 general elections.
The prosecution arrested Yang Kyung-sook, former chief executive of the Radio21 Internet broadcasting company, and three others on charges of breaching the laws on political funding and election to public office earlier in the week. But Yang reportedly denied the charges, claiming that she took the money as investments in the Internet broadcasting company.
According to news reports, the prosecution suspects Rep. Park Jie-won, floor leader of the opposition party, who was deeply involved in the party’s nomination process, took part of the money from Yang. But he denies the allegations, saying, “If Yang mentioned my name when she was talking about nominations for proportional representation with the others, that was their business. I had nothing to do with them.”
On one hand, suspicions against Rep. Park cannot be easily brushed aside if the reports are true that he met with Yang and three others three months ahead of the general elections. Moreover, one of the political aspirants donated 5 million won to his campaign, albeit lawfully.
On the other, none of the three was nominated for election to the National Assembly, either in electoral districts or on the proportional representation list. The party says it screened all of them out when it reviewed applications ― the first step in the nomination process. If such an influential figure as the floor leader took money from any of them and lobbied hard for him, the party says, they could at least have passed the first test.
But it should not be too difficult for the prosecution to sort things out, given that large sums of money, totaling 3.2 billion won, were transferred to Yang’s bank account. All that the prosecution will have to do is to find out to whom the money was sent when it was withdrawn. No matter how clever Yang might be, she could not have eliminated all traces that such a large amount of money must have left when it was flowing out of the account.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office put its reputation on the line when it decided that the investigation into the scandal would be taken up by its Central Investigation Department, instead of assigning it to a district prosecutors’ office as is usually the case.
The opposition party is accusing the prosecution of bias, given that it allowed a Busan district prosecutors’ office to investigate a money-for-nomination scandal involving a lawmaker affiliated with the ruling Saenuri Party. Moreover, the opposition party says its case does not deserve as much attention from the public as the case involving the Saenuri lawmaker, given that, none of the three applicants was nominated and the Saenuri figure was.
It is most unfortunate for the opposition party to be embroiled in a money-for-nomination scandal when it is holding presidential primaries. The prosecution’s investigation into the case will undoubtedly divert much of the electorate’s attention away from them.
As such, the prosecution, by expediting its investigation, should place itself above an allegation of hampering the opposition party’s preparations for the presidential election. Foot dragging will do nothing but reinforce the belief, held by the opposition party and many people sympathetic to the party, that the prosecution has long been biased in favor of the ruling party.
