'Victim of surveillance case raised slush fund'

A lawmaker of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) alleged Thursday that Kim Jong-ik, the victim of illegal surveillance by the Office of the Prime Minister, had raised a slush fund to pay off politicians.

Citing an unnamed whistleblower, Rep. Cho Jeon-hyeok said KB Hanmaum, where Kim served as CEO until September 2008, was a company established in 2005 with the aim of creating "illegal retirement funds" for officials of the previous Roh Moo-hyun administration.

"I've received a detailed tip-off and supporting documents from one of KB Hanmaum's business partners, which claims that Kim's company cooked the books and issued inflated invoices to create a secret fund for political heavyweights of the previous administration," Cho told reporters at the National Assembly.

Disclosing a copy of a tax invoice and bank account sheet, he said the whistleblower admitted delivering 13 million won ($11,000) to Kim on April 7, 2008 after KB Hanmaum demanded the payment of the difference between a faked invoice price and the actual cost.

Kim, however, flatly denied the accusation, saying, "If such a claim were true, it would have already been disclosed, while I was under investigation by the prime minister's office, prosecutors and police."

The surveillance scandal erupted last week when the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) raised the suspicion that "Yeongpohoe," a fraternity loyal to President Lee Myung-bak and consisting of senior civil servants from Lee's hometown of Pohang, orchestrated the unlawful surveillance on Kim.

Lee In-kyu, the head of the ethics section at the premier's office and a member of the fraternity, allegedly ordered prosecutors and police to carry out the surveillance, and ransacked Kim's company to confiscate financial records.

He is also suspected of forcing KB Bank, one of KB Hanmaum's main clients, to discontinue business deals with the company and making Kim step down.

Yeongpohoe, which has more than 100 members, was formed in the late 1980s and reportedly played a significant role in rallying support for President Lee during the 2007 election.

The DP claims that Cho's revelation can be seen as a desperate attempt by the GNP to divert public attention from the fraternity and the role that the ruling party and Cheong Wa Dae played in the scandal.

"Instead of taking responsibility for the incident, the GNP is intentionally casting doubts about the morality of the victim of unlawful surveillance based on groundless rumors," DP spokeswoman Rep. Jeon Hyun-heui said.



"불법 민간 사찰 피해자가 기금을 모아"

목요일 한나라당 조전혁 의원은 불법 민간인 사찰의 피해자인 김정익씨가 정치자금을 모아 정치인들에게 뿌렸다고 주장했다.

조 의원은 익명의 내부 고발자의 말을 인용, 김씨가 2008년 9월까지 대표로 있던 KB 한마음은 고(故) 노무현 대통령 정부를 위해 "불법 퇴직금"을 모으기 위해 2005년에 설립되었다고 밝혔다.

"김씨의 회사가 노 대통령 때의 거물급 정치인들의 정치자금 마련을 위해 장부를 조작, 청구서를 부풀려 만드는 등 세부 자료를 KB 한마음 회사의 사업 파트너로부터 받았다"고 조의원이 기자들에게 말했다.

물품 청구서 복사본을 공개하며 조 의원은 KB 한마음 측이 부풀린 액수와 실제 액수 차이의 돈을 지불할 것을 요구하자 내부 고발자가 2008년 4월 17일 김씨에게 1,300만원을 배달한 것이라고 밝혔다.