|
The Seoul Central District Court on Monday granted an arrest warrant for former Korea Exchange Bank president Lee Kang-won over irregularities in the sale of Korea Exchange bank to the offshore investment firm Lone Star in 2003. Lee is accused of losing the bank hundreds of billions of won by exaggerating KEB¡¯s financial problems in the course of the sale.
Lee is also suspected of taking a total of W1.98 billion (US$1=W942) in bribes from suppliers and subcontractors in the bank¡¯s renovation. His is the first arrest in the investigation of Lone Star¡¯s takeover of KEB at a bargain basement price since the probe started in March.
 |
|
Former Korea Exchange Bank president Lee Kang-won leaves the Supreme Public Prosecutors¡¯ Office in Seocho-dong for the journey to the Seoul Detention Center on Tuesday morning. /Yonhap
|
 |
|
Judge Lee Sang-ju said he granted the arrest warrant since there was sufficient evidence supporting the charges and a danger that the ex-KEB chairman could destroy evidence. Lee on arrest denied the charges. ¡°Selling the bank to Lone Star was the best decision at the time. I didn¡¯t get a penny for myself,¡± he said.
Prosecutors were miffed last week when the court turned down earlier applications for four Lone Star executives over share price manipulation in the sale. Lee¡¯s arrest is tipped to pave the way for prosecutors to expand their investigation into government agencies involved in the sale, including the Finance Ministry, the Financial Supervisory Service and the Financial Supervisory Commission.
They say they will seek the arrest of three or four former financial officials and KEB staffers. Senior Prosecutor Chae Dong-wook last week hinted the targets were KEB staffers and officials of the three government financial bodies who supervised and approved the sale of the bank. Asked whether government officials were involved in finagling the sale, Chae said there could be ¡°accomplices who were not bankers¡± while financial supervisory agencies were also involved.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Public Prosecutors¡¯ Office¡¯s Central Investigation Division ordered prosecutors to analyze why courts turned down arrest warrants over the past three years. The move is to help prosecutors respond to mounting refusals from courts after the Supreme Court earlier this year issued new guidelines aimed at curbing needless arrest of suspects.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
