Cheong Wa Dae squares up to special counsel on Lee’s home

Cheong Wa Dae squares up to special counsel on Lee’s home

President denies request for search, probe extension but hands over some files; first lady to be probed by questionnaire

President Lee Myung-bak on Monday refused an independent counsel team’s request to extend the period of its inquiry into his retirement home scandal.

Cheong Wa Dae also refused to let the team search the Presidential Security Office.

“We believe the probe team has already investigated the case enough to reach their conclusion,” Choe Geum-nak, Lee’s chief public relations secretary, told reporters.

A prolonged investigation would impede Lee’s management of state affairs, undermine national prestige, and influence the presidential election slated for Dec. 19, the office said.

A car carrying investigators from the independent counsel team probing President Lee Myung-bak’s retirement residence scandal comes out of a training facility of the Financial Supervisory Service near Cheong Wa Dae on Monday. (Kim Myung-sub/The Korea Herald)

Led by opposition-recommended counsel Lee Kwang-bum, the team made the request last week to extend the probe by 15 days. Its 30-day inquiry period ends Wednesday. 

Opposition groups including the Democratic United Party accused the ruling bloc of attempting a cover-up.

The ruling Saenuri Party had opposed the extension, citing concerns about the impact of the high-profile probe would have the result of the presidential election. 

Earlier in the day, Lee’s office also foiled the team’s search of the presidential security office. The counsel team secured a search warrant against the PSS last Friday.

The team sought to confiscate computer hard disks and other materials from the PSS at a training facility of the Financial Supervisory Service near the presidential residence ― a third place where the two sides agreed to meet.

Cheong Wa Dae refused the search saying its prior consent was required for the search under the Criminal Procedure Law. 

The team decided to question first lady Kim Yoon-ok in writing over her alleged role in the scandal. The decision came after it had struggled over how to query her without causing any protocol-related issues.

The first lady is purported to have allowed her son Si-hyung to collateralize her land in Nonhyeon-dong, southern Seoul, for a bank loan to purchase the controversial plot of land in Naegok-dong, southern Seoul, for the president’s retirement residence.

The first son has stated he also borrowed from the president’s elder brother half of the money to buy the plot. Both Si-hyung and his uncle have been questioned.

The land for Lee’s now-scrapped plan was jointly purchased by the first son and the PSS. In the process, Si-hyung allegedly misused taxpayers’ money by getting the PSS to shoulder some of the cost of the purchase.

The search and confiscation would have been unprecedented. The counsel team earlier secured some materials from the PSS, but requested a search warrant as they wanted to get more for investigation.

Investigators were looking for a promissory note Si-hyung allegedly wrote when borrowing money from his uncle and other materials Cheong Wa Dae held concerning the land purchase.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)