Lee's elder brother to be grilled over property deal

By Yi Whan-woo The special counsel’s office said Sunday it had issued a summons to the eldest brother of President Lee Myung-bak to report for questioning over his alleged involvement in irregularities in a land deal for his younger brother’s now-scrapped retirement home project. Lee Sang-eun, the 79-year-old chairman of automotive seat maker DAS, is suspected of loaning the President’s only son, Lee Si-hyung, 600 million won ($542,000) for him to buy the land in Naegok-dong, southern Seoul, which he was allegedly going to purchase at a lower than market price. “We asked Lee Sang-eun to turn in himself for questioning, Tuesday, although I have yet to hear any answer from him,” said special counsel Lee Kwang-bum during a press conference. His team will find out when he loaned the money to his 34-year-old nephew, and also how he planned to get the money back. The land to build the President Lee’s retirement home and auxiliary facilities for security personnel was jointly purchased by Lee Si-hyung and the Presidential Security Service (PSS). The President’s son is suspected of not having shared the cost evenly with the security service, which used taxpayer’s money for its part of the purchase. During questioning Thursday, he told the special counsel that he planned to pay the loan back to his uncle. However, in a written statement answering prosecution’s questioning last year, Lee Si-hyung claimed he was unaware of the details of how the cost was divided between him and the PSS. He also stated that the land was purchased under his name because he was going to reside there and transfer the owner’s name to his father after a certain period of time. Lee Sang-eun returned home from a controversial business trip in China after leaving the country on Oct. 15, the day before the special prosecution team was launched.