Prosecution vows to charge Chun’s son with tax evasion

Prosecutors vowed Tuesday to charge a son of disgraced former President Chun Doo-hwan with tax evasion in a 2006 land deal, saying they would swiftly wrap up the investigation into the case.

Chun Jae-yong, the second of the former president’s three sons, faces charges of colluding with his uncle to dodge up to 6 billion won ($5.66 million) in transfer taxes in the process of selling a plot of land in December 2006.

The uncle, Lee Chang-seok, is currently on trial on charges of evading the taxes.

On Tuesday, prosecutors said during a hearing on Lee’s case at the Seoul Central District Court that they also plan to indict Chun as soon as possible.

Early this month, prosecutors had said they would indict Chun within this month.

Meanwhile, prosecutors at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said they have secured an additional 5 billion won in financial assets owned by the Chun family and transferred the amount to the prosecutors’ office’s accounts.

The former president, who seized power in a military coup in 1979, was ordered by the Supreme Court in 1997 to return to state coffers some 220 billion won he had accumulated illegally while in office from 1980 to 1988.

Chun had refused to make most of the payment, claiming he was almost penniless.

However, under growing public criticism, the family announced last month that they would return 170.3 billion won worth of real estate, movables and financial assets to the state.

Prosecutors said they have begun the process to put up some of the Chun family’s jewelry and real estate worth 23 billion won for public sale.

They also plan to sell some of the family’s artwork and an herb farm belonging to Chun’s eldest son Jae-kook in Yeoncheon, about 60 kilometers northeast of Seoul, by commissioning the sale to relevant companies. (Yonhap News)