South Korea is rocked by defence corruption scandal

MORE than 60 South Koreans, including two former navy chiefs of staff, have been indicted in an investigation into alleged corruption associated with numerous defence procurement projects, prosecutors said yesterday.

Some 63 people face charges of accepting bribes, fabricating official documents or leaking military secrets, senior prosecutor Kim Ki-dong said.

The accused include ten current or former military generals, a former vice-minister, businessmen and brokers, according to the defence ministry.

Mr Kim said they were involved in projects to supply the military with body armour, rifles and various equipment, loaded on navy ships.

A joint government investigative team has been probing defence procurement projects since November.

Mr Kim said the lack of an effective supervising system on defence procurement projects was to blame for the alleged corruption.

A former minister and grandson of one of South Korea’s most revered patriots was amongst those indicted on charges of helping a foreign defence firm win a bid to build South Korean military helicopters in exchange for 1.4 billion won, prosecutors said.

Kim Yang, the former head of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, allegedly lobbied the country’s senior military officers to pick the Anglo-italian AW159 Wildcat as its new multimission maritime helicopter.

Kim was hired by Augustawestland, the multi-national helicopter design and manufacturing firm, in 2011, just after South Korea decided to buy 20 helicopters meant to boost antisubmarine capabilities.

The indictment came as part of the prosecution’s investigation into widespread corruption in the defence industry.

A special investigation team, comprised of government, military and prosecution officials, has cracked down on corruption in the defence industry after a series of shady deals came to light over the past year.

Kim denied the charge. “I made a legitimate contract to be the company’s consultant, to help it enter the Korean defence industry,” he said.

Kim is a grandson of patriot Kim Koo, who was assassinated by an ultra-right-wing military officer in 1949.

South Korea, a vibrant, liberal democracy, is one of the leading economies in Asia, but highprofile corruption scandals still routinely take place.

In March, then-prime minster Lee Wan Koo pledged to root out corruption, but he resigned only a month later after being implicated in a widening bribery scandal. Lee and an incumbent provincial governor were later indicted on charges that they took money from a late businessman.

The indictments are the latest twist in a scandal that erupted with the suicide in April of Sung Wan-jong, chairman of the construction company Keangnam Enterprises. Sung was found hanging from a tree with a list of eight politicians in his pocket that appeared to show payments made to each one.

“I made a legitimate contract to help the company” Kim Yang, suspect