hankyoreh

DAS, a company that has been the subject of controversy over charges that its de facto owner is President Lee Myung-bak, is reportedly being investigated by U.S. federal prosecutors. It is suspected of defying a ruling by the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, and receiving a wire transfer of 14 billion won ($12.9 million) from a Swiss bank account owned by former BBK Investment head Kim Kyung-joon. With DAS claiming that the transfer was made at the direction of Swiss prosecutors, it appears that the true facts will be determined by the U.S. prosecutors’ investigation.
The majority shareholder in DAS is President Lee’s older brother Lee Sang-eun, its chairman is former KORAIL President and presidential associate Kang Kyung-ho, and President Lee’s only son Lee Si-hyung enjoyed a rapid promotion to management planning team director after joining the company last August. If the 5 percent equity of the Lee Myung-bak and Chyeonggye Foundation, a foundation funded by President Lee, is figured in, DAS is essentially a company within the president’s sphere of influence. The very fact that such a company is being investigated by another country’s prosecutors on suspicions of the kind of crimes that street hoods might commit is a national disgrace.
But a look at the way this case has transpired shows that the problems do not stop there. The possibility appears substantial that the rumors of dealings with the administration that circulated when Kim Kyung-joon’s sister Erica abruptly returned to South Korea last February will turn out to be true. Circumstances suggest that a behind-the-scenes deal was reached between the Kims and DAS, with the company and Optional Capital shareholders each having filed investment restitution suits in U.S. courts to get their hands on the money Kim had stashed away into a Swiss bank account.
Twenty-four days after the 14 billion won wire transfer to DAS, Erica Kim returned to South Korea, avoiding criminal punishment through a stay of prosecution after testifying that her 2007 statement claiming Lee Myung-bak to be the real owner of BBK was false. Even though DAS lost its lawsuit and Optional won, the money had already gone to DAS, and, on April 11, the company dropped its lawsuit against Kim.
If it is true that the company made an unlawful bargain with a criminal to recover its money, then this was a shameless act. And if those in power involved themselves in this process, it is a larger, unforgivable crime. Prosecutors made the highly irregular decision to suspend indictment of Erica Kim even after confirming her embezzlement of 31.9 billion won.
It is unimaginable that the Kims would have agreed to such a deal with DAS unless they trusted in some force behind the scenes that was capable of controlling even the prosecutors‘ actions. It needs to be clearly determined who was in charge of this sequence of events.
It is a national disgrace for the dirty laundry of a company associated with the president to be aired out through an investigation by foreign prosecutors. Before this happens, President Lee, as a figure of influence at DAS, should provide a full explanation of the situation before the people of South Korea.
　　
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