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The United New Democratic Party on Wednesday succeeded in submitting a bill to impeach senior prosecutors who cleared Grand National party presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak of involvement in the BBK scandal. The impeachment motion targets senior prosecutors Kim Hong-il, Choi Jae-kyung and Kim Ki-dong at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. There was no physical scuffle since GNP lawmakers boycotted the plenary meeting.
An impeachment bill must be put to a secret vote within 72 hours after it is submitted. If it misses the deadline, the bill will be automatically scrapped. The passage demands support from a simple majority of the 299 lawmakers.
The UNDP plans to pass the bill at a plenary meeting on Friday. It ordered its lawmakers not to absent themselves from the vote and sought cooperation from the Democratic Labor Party and Democratic Party. Whether the bill will pass remains to be seen since the GNP naturally opposes it and other parties are passive.
The UNDP also asked Assembly Speaker Lim Chae-jung to put a bill tasking a special counsel with investigating the BBK scandal to a vote at his authority. The GNP threatened to initiate a no-confidence motion against the speaker if he puts the bill to a ballot.
Prosecutor General Lim Chai-jin expressed regret at the impeachment bill, calling it an ¡°assault on the neutrality and investigative independence of the prosecution.¡± It was the first time the prosecutor general voiced his opinion about the BBK probe. Only senior prosecutor Kim Hong-il and the BBK investigation team have so far rebutted claims from GNP candidate Lee¡¯s rivals that they were engaged in a whitewash.
Lim in a statement said prosecutors ¡°worked to uncover the full truth of the BBK case after the extradition of Kim Kyung-joon¡± -- the indicted key figure in the stock-price fixing scheme and the ex-chief of the defunct investment firm. He stressed prosecutors investigated the case and announced probe results ¡°without political consideration.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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