Investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office carry boxes containing documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade office building yesterday in central Seoul after they raided the office. [NEWSIS]

The prosecution raided the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade yesterday, beefing up its investigation into a diamond mine scandal involving a senior diplomat and several other high-profile figures.

Investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office entered the offices of Ambassador Kim Eun-seok and several lower-ranking ministry officials yesterday morning to seize hard disks of their computers and other documents they used for the diamond mine deal in question, sources with knowledge of the raid said.

They also confiscated some documents from the ministry’s information database room, including documents between the Foreign Ministry and the Cameroon government regarding cooperation on the deal, the sources said.

It is the first time the prosecution raided a government agency regarding the case, which centers on suspicion that government figures helped an obscure local developer artificially inflate its stock prices using a shady diamond deal with Cameroon.

Last Thursday, the prosecution raided the headquarters of the developer, CNK International, and several workplaces of others thought to be connected to the scandal.

The prosecution is planning on summoning high-profile figures involved in the scandal such as Kim and Cho Jung-pyo, an executive of the company who was formerly Kim’s boss at the Prime Minister’s Office, as soon as it finishes an analysis of the data it confiscated.

The Board of Audit and Inspection referred Kim, the country’s energy resource ambassador, to the prosecution for investigation last Thursday, saying he deliberately promoted the deal by issuing a promotional press release on Dec. 17, 2010 detailing exaggerated diamond reserves. The deal was referred to as an exemplary case of resource diplomacy for Korea in the press release.

The BAI said Kim’s two younger brothers purchased stocks in the company before the press release came out. Cho, known to have made some 1 billion won ($887,470) from trading the stocks of the company, was also referred to the prosecution by the financial authorities on Jan. 18.

The prosecution, looking into a possibility that other government figures are also involved in the scandal, is investigating 59 bank accounts through which people made profits from CNK’s bonds.

CNK is known to have attached 3.7 million shares of its stocks for warrant bonds and sold them to between 30 and 50 people. Warrant bonds enable bond holders to buy the stocks of the bond issuer at a fixed price and thus benefit from the margin of the stock prices when the stock prices rise.

The prosecution’s investigation is focused on whether the company’s chairman, Oh Deok-gyun, sold or gave them to any incumbent political or government figures to earn their favor regarding the deal.


By Moon Gwang-lip [joe@joongang.co.kr]



외교부의 굴욕 … 사상 첫 압수수색 당해

‘CNK 의혹’ 김은석 자택도


씨앤케이(CNK) 인터내셔널의 주가조작 의혹을 수사 중인 서울중앙지검 금융조세조사3부는 30일 서울 종로구 외교통상부 청사의 김은석(54) 에너지자원대사 사무실과 대변인실, 김 대사 자택 등을 압수수색했다. 외교부에 대한 압수수색은 사상 초유의 일이다. 검찰은 외교부가 2010년 12월 CNK의 카메룬 다이아몬드 광산 매장량을 4억2000만 캐럿으로 크게 부풀린 보도자료를 발표한 경위를 확인하기 위해 CNK와 관련된 외교전문 등을 대거 확보한 것으로 알려졌다.

　◆김효재 수석 이르면 주내 소환= 서울중앙지검 공안1부는 “2008년 7월 전당대회 당시 박희태 국회의장 캠프 상황실장이던 김효재(60) 청와대 정무수석과 인사한 뒤 그의 책상에 놓여 있던 돈봉투를 가지고 나왔다”는 은평구의원의 진술에 따라 이르면 주 내에 김 수석을 소환하기로 했다. 김 수석은 이날 “돈봉투 살포에 대해 전혀 아는 바 없고 이를 지시한 적도 없다”고 거듭 해명했다. 박 의장 캠프에 수천만원을 송금한 의혹을 받고 있는 문병욱(60) 라미드그룹 회장은 이날 검찰에 소환됐다. 그는 대리인을 통해 2008년 2월 박 의장 등과 맺은 소송위임계약서를 공개하면서 “수임료 외에 불법 자금을 준 사실이 없다”고 주장했다