전두환 전 대통령 일가가 10일 대국민 사과를 하고 미납 추징금 1천672억원을 모두 납부하겠다고 밝혔다.
전 씨의 장남 전재국씨는 이날 오후 3시 서울 서초동 서울중앙지검에서 이와 같은 뜻을 밝히며 “추징금 환수 문제와 관련해 그간 국민 여러분께 심려를 끼쳐 드린 데 대해 가족을 대표해 머리 숙여 사죄드린다”고 말했다.
이어 그는 “부친은 저희가 할 수 있는 한 당국 조치에 최대한 협조하라고 말씀하셨고 저희도 그 뜻에 부응하고자 했으나 저희의 부족함과 현실적 난관이 있어 해결이 늦어진 데 대해 대단히 송구스럽게 생각한다”고 덧붙였다.
이와 같은 결정에 따라 검찰이 확보한 전씨 일가의 재산은 1천703억원으로 부동산과 금융자산 등을 포함하고 있다. 이 금액에는 지난 4주간 검찰이 압류한 연희동 사저 정원과 경기 오산땅 등 일가의 부동산과 미술품 등이 포함되어 있으며, 이들은 이에 대한 재산권을 포기하기로 하였다.
전씨 일가는 전씨 부인 이순자씨의 명의로 되어 있는 연희동 사저 본채도 납부하기로 결정했으며, 부족한 추징금은 서로 부담해 내기로 하였다.
재용 씨는 그러나 “저희 자녀들은 부모님께서 반평생 거주하셨던 자택에서 여생을 보낼 수 있게 되길 바라고 있다”고 덧붙였다.
재국씨는 아직 압류되지 않은 개인 소장 미술품과 서초동 시공사 사옥 3필지, 북플러스 주식과 합천군 소재 선산(21만평)을 내놓기로 했으며 차남 재용씨는 본인 명의의 서초동 시공사 사옥 1필지를, 딸 효선씨는 경기 안양시 관양동 부지(시가 40억원)를 추징금 납부를 위해 내놓기로 했다.
또한 삼남 재만씨는 본인 명의 한남동 신원플라자 빌딩과 부인 명의의 연희동 사저 별채를, 재만씨의 장인인 동아원 이희상 회장은 금융자산으로 275억원 상당을 분납하기로 했다.
이날 “자진납부” 목록에서 제외된 재산은 검찰이 압류한 이순자씨 명의의 30억원짜리 연금보험과 재용씨가 거주하는 이태원 빌라 1채 등이 있다.
재국씨는 “앞으로 저희 가족 모두는 추징금 완납 시까지 당국의 환수 절차가 순조롭게 마무리될 수 있도록 최대한 협력할 것이며 추가 조사에도 성실히 임하겠다”고 말했으며 이후 취재진의 질의 응답을 받지 않고 곧장 특별환수팀 (팀장 김형준 부장검사)을 찾아가 추징금 납부 계획서를 제출했다.
검찰은 납부 계획서에 담긴 재산의 가액을 평가 후 한국자산관리공사 등과 함께 재산 집행에 들어갈 방침이라고 밝혔으며, 전액 환수가 어려울 경우 그 외에 은닉된 재산에 대한 추적을 진행할 예정이라고 한다.
그러나 일각에서는 전씨 일가가 비자금을 종잣돈 삼아 미납 추징금보다 훨씬 많은 재산을 모은 것으로 추정되기 때문에 추징금을 완납해도 “남는 장사”일 수 있다는 지적이 나오고 있다.
특히 추징금은 체납해도 아무런 제재가 없는데다 애초에 확정판결을 받은 1997년 4월 17일 이후 16여년 간 68% 정도인 물가상승률도 적용받지 않기 때문에 액면상 동일한 금액을 내더라도 그 가치는 훨씬 적은 셈이다. (코리아헤럴드)
<관련 영문 기사>
Chun family to pay all fines
By Cho Chung-un
Former President Chun Doo-hwan’s family announced on Tuesday that they will pay the 167.2 billion won ($154.2 million) remaining in fines and offered a public apology for causing public concern.
“I apologize on behalf of our family for causing concerns for the people over the problems with collecting unpaid fines,” eldest son Chun Jae-kook said in front of Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
“I am sorry for delaying the decision due to my inadequacy and realistic problems even though my father has been telling me to cooperate with the authorities,” he said before heading to the prosecutors’ office.
Chun was scheduled to make an announcement before submitting a detailed plan on how the family would pay unpaid fines to the state through the prosecution.
The younger Chun said the family will “voluntarily” return 170.3 billion won worth of real estate, financial assets and art. The proposed amount exceeds the unpaid fine. The amount includes the family’s assets already confiscated by the prosecution for last four months. The seized assets are evaluated at around 90 billion won, the prosecutors said.
The list included the former president’s current residence in Yeonhee-dong, Seoul, an office building of publishing company Sigongsa, and a leisure town called Herb Village, both owned by Chun’s eldest son. Chun’s second son Jae-yong will give up his properties in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, and Seocho-gu, Seoul. Chun’s third son will transfer the ownership of a luxury building in Hannam-dong, central Seoul, to the state. The list also included a burial ground for Chun’s ancestors.
The list included the residence where Chun has lived since 1969. But Chun’s son said he and his siblings are hoping that their parents can still live out their lives at the residence.
“From now on, until the collection of unpaid fines is completed, our family will cooperate fully with the authorities and also in further investigations,” he said, declining to answer questions.
The prosecution plans to officially assess the value of the assets and launch another task force team with Korea Asset Management Corporation to administer the repossession process. If the estimated value of the assets is found insufficient to meet the full payment, the prosecution will track down more of Chun’s concealed assets.
The announcement came four months after the prosecution launched a task force team to collect Chun’s overdue fines. In 1997, former President Chun was sentenced to life in prison and ordered to pay 220.5 billion won in penalties for leading an insurrection and accepting bribes while in power from 1980 to 1987. Over the last 16 years, the former president paid only one-fourth of the total.
The prosecution has conducted an intensive, two-track investigation into Chun and his family since May to collect 167 billion won ($152 million) in unpaid fines. They first started to search for Chun’s concealed assets, but soon turned to seeking ways to prosecute his family members to put pressure on the former president, who had claimed to have only 290,000 won in his bank account.
Last month, the prosecution detained Lee Chang-seok, the younger brother of Chun’s wife Lee Soon-ja, on charges of evading about 5.9 billion won in taxes. Chun’s second son Jae-yong was grilled by the prosecution as a key suspect for a suspicious land transaction with his uncle in 2006.
Chun’s other children are suspected of evading taxes and laundering money overseas. The prosecution believes that they were able to pursue wealthy lives and expand businesses with his father’s slush fund.
Both the ruling and main opposition parties welcomed Chun’s decision.
Saenuri spokeswoman Min Hyun-joo urged the prosecution to continue its investigation into Chun’s family on suspicion of evading taxes and creating slush funds overseas.
“Even after (Chun) pays the bill, the prosecution must continue its probe into allegations that Chun’s family members evaded taxes and (created) funds overseas to establish justice,” she said.
The National Assembly has supported the prosecution‘s move to collect Chun’s money.
The statute of limitations on collecting Chun’s fines was set to expire in October. The parliament revised the Act on Special Cases Concerning Forfeiture for Offenses by Public Officials in June.
Apparently moved by the prosecution‘s intensive probe into Chun’s family, former President Roh Tae-woo said that he will also pay the unpaid 23 billion won in fines through his family members. Roh’s former in-law Shin Myoung-soo, ex-chairman of the now-defunct Shindongbang Group, paid 8 billion won to the state last month.
Roh’s brother Jae-woo is known to have agreed to pay the remaining 15 billion won. Roh has been demanding that the two must return assets he gave them so that he can use them to pay off his debt. Roh, who served as president between 1988 and 1992, was sentenced to 17 years in prison and fined 262.8 billion won in 1997 on a number of charges including revolt and bribery.
(
christory@heraldcorp.com)
