Parties Agree on an Independent Inquiry of Lee Case

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Parties Agree on an Independent Inquiry of Lee Case

Floor leaders of the governing Millennium Democratic Party and the opposition Grand National Party agreed Monday to invite an independent counsel to investigate the G&G chairman Lee Yong-ho's alleged attempts to bribe high officials. The parties will work out the details Friday, they said.

While the Grand National Party called for a parliamentary probe before the introduction of an independent counsel, the Millennium Democratic Party maintained that either would suffice.

Earlier in the day, President Kim Dae-jung said he had ordered the chairman of his party to accept the introduction of an independent counsel if such is the desire of the Korean people and the opposition party.

If an independent counsel is indeed called in to look into the suspicions surrounding Lee Yong-ho and high officials, it would be the third time since the beginning of this administration. An independent counsel was appointed last year when the wife of a former prosecutor general was suspected of receiving fur coats as bribes. Another was asked to look into a senior prosecutor's confession that he intentionally instigated a labor strike at the state-run mint to discredit the labor movement.

An analysis of G&G's books by the JoongAng Ilbo confirmed that 5.7 billion won ($4.4 million) of the company's money has been spent since May with no indication of where it went. About half of that amount was spent in July shortly before Mr. Lee's arrest. The spending spree appears to support suspicions that Mr. Lee may have bribed high officials, since he spent more than 10 million won a day on entertaining people during the four-month period, even as the company's daily revenues dwindled at times to as low as 10 million won.

Also on Monday, the special team of internal auditors at the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office confirmed that the wife of Lee Deok-seon, then a deputy assistant attorney who released Mr. Lee just a day after his arrest last year, deposited 70 million won in cash last year. The team is investigating the source of the money. Mrs. Lee maintains that the money had nothing to do with her husband.

Separately, Hong Joon-pyo, a former prosecutor, asserted Monday that two high officials had protected Yeo Un-hwan, a Kwangju-based construction executive with organized crime connections and Mr. Lee's lobbyist. He said that when the names of the two men are revealed, the "world will turn upside down."

by Kim Jin-kook

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