Lee Ick-chi, former chair of Hyundai Securities, claimed Sunday that top decision-makers of Hyundai group had held meetings on more than four occasions with lawyers in April 1999 so as to work out answers Chung Mong-joon, the current presidential candidate and the then advisor to Hyundai Heavy Industries, could make in preparation for the prosecutors' investigation on Chung over stock price manipulation allegations at the time.

In April that year, prosecutors began investigation on suspicions over the securities unit's involvement in stock price manipulation of Hyundai Electronics and were about to summon Chung. Lee made the claim at the pressroom in Seoul District Court Sunday. He also claimed that the presidential candidate is also suspected of conducting an inside transactions, including selling off about 80,000 shares of Hyundai Electronics for a total of W2 billion in September and October 1998.

Lee, a confidante of the late Chung Ju-yung, founder of the group and father of Mong-joon, went on to argue that the heavy industry arm of the Hyundai group transferred W1 to W3 billion each on several occasions during May and November 1998 to Hyundai Securities to purchase shares of Hyundai Electronics, the former Hyunix Semiconductor, for W180 billion in total. The presidential candidate should have known the money transfer and stock purchase, as he was the largest shareholder of the largest shipbuilder in the country, Lee claimed.

Lee said the business group at that time had held a series of top officials' meetings to find measures to cope with the prosecutors' investigation over the allegation. He also unveiled photocopies of seven documents, including the group's meeting minutes and stock purchases on Hyundai Electronics. Lee also filed a libel suit against Chung Mong-joon, claiming that Chung made a false accusation about him, including Chung's remarks that the opposition Grand National Party has controlled Lee, during a TV debate held on Friday evening.

Meanwhile, commenting on Lee's claims, Chung said his revelations were the fossilized political maneuvering Lee Hoi-chang frequently resorts to, claiming that all possible investigation be mobilized to delve into the false accusations. Chung also said that, if Lee's claims turn out to be false, Lee Hoi-chang must resign from the presidential candidacy and he would do so himself if the accusations were found to be true.

(Heo Yong-bum, heo@chosun.com )