|
Cheong Wa Dae instructed the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs to allocate a W1 billion subsidy to a temple in Ulsan while Byeon Yang-kyun was chief presidential secretary for national policy, prosecutors said Wednesday (US1=W926). The temple was built by the Ven. Youngbae, whose secular name is Lim Yong-taek, the chairman of the board of Dongguk University, which hired Shin Jeong-ah as an assistant professor despite doubts about her qualifications.
In early 2005, Youngbae visited Ulju county chief Um Chang-sub, who is now in prison, to ask for a subsidy to the Heungdeok Temple. In the process, an official identified as Kim from the office of the senior secretary to the president for social policy reportedly instructed the ministry to earmark W1 billion as a special budget for the county.
Youngbae played a leading role in recruiting Shin, the disgraced curator at the heart of the spiraling scandal, as an assistant professor in 2005. In July this year, when the scandal came to light, he openly protected Shin. The Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office is investigating Byeon's suspected involvement in Cheong Wa Dae allocation of funds for the temple.
Witnesses say the ministry instructed the county municipality several times to request a special budget for the Heungdeok Temple, despite the local council¡¯s opposition to the idea. Eventually in late May, the W1 billion budget was earmarked. A ministry official said, "We set aside a budget for Ulju county on instruction from an official named Kim at the office of senior secretary to the president for social policy. We just followed the routine process of allocating a budget."
 |
|
Lawyer Park Jong-rok (left) visits his client Shin Jeong-ah, the disgraced former curator, at Kangdong Catholic Hospital in Seoul on Wednesday.
|
 |
|
Ulju county was instructed by the ministry in April to request a W1.5 billion budget for the temple, but the municipality reportedly replied there was no legal grounds for subsidizing a non-traditional Buddhist temple. But the ministry then discovered with the help of the county that a construction project was under way near the temple and instructed the county municipality once again to request a special budget under the pretext of expanding Yangdeung Bridge, a single-lane bridge near the temple, to two lanes.
Ulju county then asked for a budget of W1 billion. On April 23, 10 days after the request was made, the ministry allocated W1 billion to the county. An Ulju county official said the W1 billion would be taken from this year's supplementary budget program. ¡°And the budget will be executed as an estimated expenditure for expansion of Yangdeung Bridge some time next year.¡±
Prosecutors again questioned Byeon on Wednesday to find out why the W1 billion was allocated to the temple. They are also to summon the Cheong Wa Dae official identified as Kim. Prosecutors on Tuesday raided the Heungdeok Temple and grilled the Ulju county chief to find out how the budget allocation came about. They will submit a strengthened application for an arrest warrant for Shin this weekend. Shin was sent home on Tuesday night because an earlier application for an arrest warrant was rejected by the court.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
