[Editorial] President’s men

Corruption scandals involving people close to President Lee Myung-bak are spreading like wildfire, with many wondering whether they are a symptom or a precursor of Lee’s degeneration into premature lame-duck status.

A businessman, who was convicted of falsifying corporate accounts and sentenced to a suspended prison term, is alleging that he gave cash and other benefits, totaling 1 billion won, to Shin Jae-min, a former vice culture minister. An opposition lawmaker also claims a former senior presidential secretary took money in bribes. These allegations are coming at a time when the prosecutors’ office is conducting an investigation into a corruption scandal involving Kim Doo-woo, who recently resigned as a senior presidential secretary for public relations.

The three are among those who were involved in Lee’s 2007 election campaign or joined the Lee administration when it began in February 2008. If past experience is any guide, more dirty linen will be exposed as Lee’s five-year presidency comes to an end.

Lee Kuk-chul, chairman of SLS Group, whose business lines included train carriage manufacturing and shipbuilding, says he provided Shin with cash and other gifts totaling 1 billion won since 2002. This case may prove to be explosive, if suspicions are substantiated that the businessman may have donated money to Shin to assist the presidential election campaign.

Shin denies many of the allegations, but not all, while claiming he engaged in no culpable action. For instance, he admits that he used a car, provided by Lee, for a while. Lee says he is revealing that he provided cash, a corporate card and an automotive vehicle for Shin because he believes he was targeted by the presidential office for a criminal investigation on false information that he had given money to influential figures of the previous administration. Still worse, the businessman is threatening to identify some other people close to the president, to whom he claims he gave money as well.

It appears to be a matter of time before the prosecutors’ office launches an inquiry into the case involving the former vice culture minister. But what is unfolding is going against the promise President Lee made that there would be no “corruption gate” and that he would not become a lame duck until his final day in office. But the mere allegations against his former aides are already tainting the image of his administration.