Ex-Lee aide questioned in Busan bribery scandal

Kim Hae-soo

Kim Hae-soo, chief executive of the state-run Korea Construction Management Corp. and former secretary to President Lee Myung-bak for political affairs, was summoned by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office yesterday on suspicion he received 80 million won ($74,487) from Yun Yeo-seong, a key lobbyist of the scandal-plagued Busan Savings Bank Group.

“I will explain everything at the interrogation by prosecutors,” Kim told reporters before entering the prosecutors’ office yesterday. “I will put all my efforts to cooperating with the probe.”

When asked if he knows Yun, Kim briefly answered, “We know each other.”

Prosecutors suspect Kim was introduced to Yun by Eun Jin-su, a former Lee aide and commissioner of the Board of Audit and Inspection, who was indicted last month on charges of taking 170 million won in bribes to help cover up financial irregularities at the bank. Prosecutors said yesterday that they will ask Kim whether he accepted bribes from Yun and whether he was involved in authorizing an apartment construction project in Incheon.

Yun, a 56-year-old former businessman and lobbyist for the Busan Savings Bank Group, recently told prosecutors that he gave 60 million won to Kim in November 2008 when he was running in the Grand National Party primary in Incheon Gyeyang B District.

Yun also said he gave another 20 million won in 2008 to then-presidential secretary Kim, in return for stopping a Grand National Party lawmaker from trying to obtain information about the bank’s poor financial performance from a government official. Yun said bank executives wanted to hide the bank’s poor financial status from the Grand National Party lawmaker. At that time, Yun said he also asked Kim to help get authorization for building apartments in Gyeyang District, Incheon, which the Busan Savings Bank Group was illegally funding with the group’s money.

After examining cell phone records, prosecutors found out that Yun and Kim had a number of phone conversations and exchanged text messages. Yun was indicted in early June and is now in custody.

Kim has denied all allegations against him. Kim, 53, who graduated from Korea University, served as secretary to the president for political affairs from June 2008 to July 2010 and worked as a key official in Lee’s presidential campaign in 2007. He was deputy spokesman for the GNP in 2003.

Meanwhile, prosecutors will also summon Suh Gab-won, a former Democratic Party lawmaker, on suspicion that he received 30 million won from the bank group’s vice president, Kim Yang, who has been indicted on a charge of breach of trust.

By Kim Hee-jin [heejin@joongang.co.kr]

한글 관련 기사 [중앙일보]
‘부산저축 비리’ 김해수씨 소환
정·관계 금품로비 혐의 집중 추궁

대검 중수부는 22일 부산저축은행그룹으로부터 사업 인허가 청탁 등과 함께 8000만원을 받은 혐의를 받고 있는 김해수(53) 한국건설관리공사 사장을 피의자 신분으로 소환해 조사했다. 김 사장은 청와대 정무비서관으로 있던 2008년 부산저축은행그룹의 정·관계 로비를 담당했던 윤여성(56·구속기소)씨로부터 인천 효성지구 재개발사업 인허가와 관련해 로비 대가와 정치자금 등 명목으로 두 차례에 걸쳐 돈을 받은 혐의를 받고 있다.

　김 사장은 이날 오후 2시쯤 서울 서초동 대검 청사에 도착해 기자들의 질문에 간단히 답한 뒤 조사실로 향했다. 그는 윤씨를 알고 있느냐는 질문에 “네. 압니다”고 답했다. 금품수수 의혹에 대해서는 “검찰 조사에 성실히 임하겠다”고 말했다.

　검찰은 김 사장을 상대로 부산저축은행으로부터 돈을 받은 뒤 한나라당 박모 의원에게 인천 효성지구 재개발사업 관련 문의전화를 한 이유와 박 의원 외에 다른 정·관계 인사에게 금품 로비를 한 사실이 있는지 등을 집중 추궁한 것으로 알려졌다. 박 의원은 이와 관련, 18일 대검 중수부에 “지난해 5월 청와대 비서관이던 김 사장이 전화를 걸어 재개발사업 관련 문의를 한 사실이 있다”는 내용의 서면진술서를 제출했다. 검찰은 김 사장에 대해 사전구속영장을 청구할 방침으로 전해졌다.

　대검 중수부는 김 사장 소환을 시작으로 정·관계 로비 및 특수목적법인(SPC) 비자금 조성 등 남은 의혹을 해결하는 데 수사력을 집중할 방침이다. 검찰은 조만간 부산저축은행그룹 김양(58·구속기소) 부회장으로부터 3000만원을 받은 의혹이 제기된 서갑원 전 의원을 불러 조사할 계획이다.