President’s son quizzed

President Lee Myung-bak’s only son, Si-hyung, answers questions from reporters before entering the independent counsel’s office in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul, Thursday. He was grilled over the land he bought together with the Presidential Security Service to build a retirement residence for his father. / Yonhap

Lee Si-hyung pledges to ‘tell truth’ about property deal

An independent counsel questioned President Lee Myung-bak’s only son, Lee Si-hyung, Thursday, over a dubious property deal to build the President a retirement residence in southern Seoul.

The 34-year-old appeared at the counsel’s office at 10:10 a.m., escorted by presidential security officers. This is the first time in South Korean history that a child of a sitting president has been questioned by prosecutors.

“I will tell everything I know honestly. I will tell only the truth,” Lee said, after receiving a barrage of questions from reporters about the deal. He did not elaborate further and was escorted into the counsel’s office.

The counsel said he was summoned as a “criminal suspect” on charges of breach of trust and violating the real-name transaction law.

Special prosecutors grilled him over allegations that he purchased the land for a retirement home for his father in May last year jointly with the Presidential Security Service (PSS), although real estate transactions under false names are banned under the law.

They bought the land in Naegok-dong for 5.4 billion won ($4.9 million) — the PSS spent 4.28 billion won of taxpayers’ money and the rest was paid by Lee Si-hyung. Critics say the deal resulted in a loss to the country’s budget.

He reportedly borrowed 600 million won from his uncle Lee Sang-eun and the same amount from his mother, first lady Kim Yoon-ok.

The focus of the investigation is on whether President Lee was behind the property deal. Some liberal newspapers reported that Lee instructed the PSS to buy the land together with his son, citing anonymous sources.

Cheong Wa Dae cancelled the retirement residence project and sacked then-PSS chief Kim In-jong after the scandal erupted.

Lee Sang-eun, the President’s elder brother, is also facing a summons regarding the money he loaned to Lee Si-hyung. The junior Lee is an executive of DAS, an automobile seat maker owned by Lee Sang-eun.

The elder brother departed for China just one day before key figures involved were slapped with overseas travel bans. He returned to Korea Wednesday.

First lady Kim could be summoned as well. She is known to have provided her property as collateral to borrow the 600 million won from NongHyup Bank’s branch near Cheong Wa Dae.

The independent counsel has questioned the bank’s branch head, realtors who brokered the deal, and presidential staffers who were involved in the money transactions.

After the allegations were raised last year, the prosecution launched a probe. It, however, closed the case saying that they found no evidence implicating them in any wrongdoing.

This conclusion triggered public criticism. The prosecution has often been criticized for “biased” investigations of politically sensitive cases under the Lee administration.

In August, the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party agreed to a probe by the independent counsel. <The Korea Times/Na Jeong-ju>