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The emergence Sunday of a video clip showing Grand National Party Lee Myung-bak boasting he founded the investment firm BBK, now at the heart of a fraud scandal, has cast fresh doubt on prosecutors¡¯ findings in the affair and opened the way for a reinvestigation. President Roh Moo-hyun was first to respond by calling for a fresh probe by prosecutors, who earlier cleared Lee of any involvement. Lee said he will accept a bill tasking a special prosecutor with investigating the stock fraud.
The United New Democratic Party on Sunday morning revealed a video clip which shows Lee saying in 2000 that he established the investment firm early that year. In a snap press conference called by co-chairmen of its campaign committee Sunday morning, the UNDP released the clip, which shows Lee give a lecture at a CEO program hosted by Kwangwoon University on Oct. 17, 2000. "I've recently returned home from abroad and founded an online financial firm,¡± it shows Lee as saying. ¡°To be specific, I founded BBK, an investment consulting firm, in January this year." Lee then adds, "Although BBK only started business early this year, profits already jumped 28.8 percent as of the end of September."
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Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak tells colleague GNP lawmakers about his decision to accept an independent probe into a stock fraud scheme allegedly involving him on Monday morning. /Newsis
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Lee told a press conference after an emergency meeting with the GNP leadership he had ¡°nothing to be ashamed of¡± in the BBK scandal. ¡°I¡¯ve opposed an independent probe not because I¡¯m afraid but because the UNDP initiated the independent counsel bill for political reasons,¡± he said. But he added, ¡°I can and will accept¡± an independent probe and asked the National Assembly to deal with the bill in accordance with the law.
UNDP spokeswoman Kim Hyun-mi, however, called Lee¡¯s decision a ¡°political show to buy time¡±, saying the video clip cast doubt on his innocence and sparked public criticism. She said her party will handle the bill in a plenary session on Monday as scheduled.
GNP spokesman Park Hyung-joon commented the clip ¡°inaccurately represents¡± what Lee said. ¡°He merely tried to outline a financial business project he was pursuing in cooperation with his partner¡± -- Kim Kyung-joon, who has been indicted in the investment scam. ¡°He didn't specify the details of each individual part of the project one by one.¡± Park pointed out that prosecutors had already investigated such remarks and concluded that Lee did not own BBK. ¡°This is nothing but the final round of muckraking, negative propaganda launched by the UNDP."
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The UNDP revealed Sunday morning a video clip, which shows Lee saying in 2000 that he established the investment firm BBK early that year, causing a new political stir.
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President Roh Moo-hyun earlier Sunday instructed Justice Minister Jung Seong-jin to use his authority so prosecutors can re-investigate the scandal ¡°to remove public suspicion and restore public trust in the prosecution.¡±
The chief presidential secretary for civil petitions Chun Hae-chul cited the release of the video clip. ¡°Candidate Lee's remarks in the video clip are raising further public suspicions about the results of prosecutors' investigation of the scandal."
The Justice Ministry, which discussed the re-investigation of the BBK scandal at an emergency leadership meeting Sunday, will make a final decision on Monday. Prosecutors will likely leave the case to a special prosecutor now Lee and the GNP accepted an independent probe.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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