Ex-S Korea President Lee facing graft probe

SOUTH Korean prosecutors yesterday summoned conservative former President Lee Myung-bak for questioning as a criminal suspect in a bribery scandal, officials said, the country’s latest former head of state to be investigated.

“We need to investigate former President Lee to find the truth [in the scandal] in a transparent and effective manner,”Yonhap news agency quoted an unnamed Seoul prosecutor as saying.

Allegations of corruption involving the 76-year-old’s relatives and aides during his 20082013 presidential term have mounted in recent weeks.

Lee was told to present himself to prosecutors on Wednesday next week to be questioned as a “suspect”, Yonhap said.

The allegations include claims that the Samsung Group bought a presidential pardon in 2009 for its chairman, Lee Kun-hee, who had been convicted of tax evasion and given a suspended jail sentence. Samsung reportedly paid 6 billion won ($5.6 million) in legal fees to a US law firm on the former president’s behalf.

He has also allegedly pocketed 1.7 billion won of secret funds from the spy agency, received 400 million won in bribes from a lawmaker, and hundreds of thousands of won from a construction firm as a kickback for awarding a government project. Hee is also said to be accused of embezzling millions of dollars from DAS, an auto parts company he allegedly owns under the names of his relatives.