Tag: bribery

As long as the CSAT remains such an important factor in determining which colleges Korean students can attend, this corruption will continue:

Math instructor Hyun Woo-jin. 

Hyun Woo-jin (39) and Cho Jung-sik (44), both “top-tier instructors,” have been indicted for allegedly paying large sums to current teachers in exchange for mock College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) questions and other materials. It was confirmed that they provided up to 180 million Korean won to teachers, with some transactions conducted through spouses’ accounts.

According to the indictment obtained by this newspaper through People Power Party Representative Park Joon-tae on the 14th, math instructor Hyun transferred a total of 179.09 million Korean won in 20 installments from March 2020 to May 2023 to Teacher A, who has been a private high school math teacher since 1995, in exchange for math exam questions. Hyun also paid 167.78 million Korean won in 20 installments from March 2020 to April 2023 to Teacher B, a high school teacher since 1997, and 75.3 million Korean won in 37 installments from March 2020 to June 2023 to Teacher C, a teacher since 2015. Teacher C was found to have used a spouse’s account for transactions.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office Criminal Division 7 (headed by Choi Tae-eun) non-custodially indicted Hyun and the three teachers last December for violating the Anti-Graft Act. Under the law, private school teachers are prohibited from receiving more than 1 million Korean won per instance or 3 million Korean won annually from a single person unrelated to their duties, with both givers and receivers subject to punishment.

Chosen Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

You would think these people would be smarter and have funds like this donated to their campaigns. If this guy did in fact receive a cash bribe he should be punished for it:

 A special counsel team on Wednesday demanded a four-year prison term for opposition lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong on charges of accepting illegal political funds from the Unification Church.

Kweon of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) is accused of receiving 100 million won (US$67,570) from a former church official in 2022 in exchange for his help in gaining policy favors for the church following the presidential election of then PPP candidate Yoon Suk Yeol later that year.

The former church official allegedly promised to also mobilize the votes of church members in support of Yoon.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This doesn’t look good for Kim Keon-hee if this true when combined with the prior handbag from hell allegations:

In 2022, during a Korean community dinner in Madrid, where she accompanied the former president on his NATO-related travels, Kim wore a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace valued at over 60 million won ($43,300) that was absent from her official asset disclosure. At the time, the presidential office said it had been “borrowed from an acquaintance.”

However, in May, Kim submitted a written statement to prosecutors claiming it was a replica and therefore not subject to disclosure under the public official asset reporting rules.

That alibi unraveled this month when Seohee Construction Chairman Lee Bong-kwan confessed to giving her the necklace in exchange for helping his son-in-law find a job in the Yoon administration. 

Last month, the special counsel found a replica of the same model at the home of Kim’s elder brother’s mother-in-law. Prosecutors later brought both the genuine necklace — recovered from Seohee Construction — and the replica into court, using the contrast to challenge Kim’s account. They argued that the presence of the fake suggested a deliberate attempt to mislead investigators, a charge her defense has so far been unable to disprove. (…….)

Investigators also found a Vacheron Constantin watch box and an authenticity certificate during a search last month. The special counsel suspects the watch came from a businessman surnamed Seo, a major donor to Yoon, whose robotics firm later won a contract with the Presidential Security Service to provide a robot dog for patrol and surveillance. They are examining possible links between the gift and that deal.

Seo reportedly told prosecutors he met Kim in 2022 and bought her the watch after she expressed interest, claiming he could get it at a discount as a VIP and that she reimbursed him in cash.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Lee Jae-myung is just surrounded by scandal. If he had won the Presidency in 2022 I wonder if these bribes would have ever been investigated?:

The leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) apologized Monday over snowballing allegations that cash envelopes were distributed to lawmakers and party members as bribes ahead of a 2021 national convention held to elect a new party leader.

Prosecutors are investigating suspicions that envelopes containing cash totaling 94 million won (US$71,700) were handed out to members of the then ruling DP to help then lawmaker Song Yong-gil be elected as the party chair ahead of the party convention in May 2021. 

Song eventually won the election.

“As party leader, I deeply apologize for causing people concern over this issue,” Rep. Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the DP, said during a party meeting at the National Assembly.

Prosecutors have raided the homes and offices of Reps. Youn Kwan-suk and Lee Sung-man for their alleged involvement in distributing the money collected from regional businesspeople. Youn and Lee served in Song’s campaign ahead of the national convention.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this has to make people wonder if Lee Jae-myung was handing out cash envelopes when he was elected the Democratic Party leader in 2022?

The only conviction to stick to Lee Jae-yong was sponsoring equestrian training for Choi Soon-sil’s daughter:

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was released Monday after an appellate court handed him a suspended sentence dismissing most of the key charges against him in a bribery and corruption scandal that led to the ouster of former President Park Geun-hye last year.

The Seoul High Court sentenced Lee to 2 1/2 years in prison with a stay of execution for four years. He was immediately freed from a nearly yearlong incarceration.

Two former group executives were also released on suspended sentences. They were given four-year jail terms by the lower court.

Lee, 50, was arrested on Feb. 17, 2017 on five charges, including bribery, embezzlement and hiding assets overseas.

A lower court sentenced him to five years in prison, on Aug. 25, for giving 8.8 billion won (US$8.1 million) in bribes to Park and her confidante, Choi Soon-sil, in return for government backing of the merger of two key Samsung units, a process that was deemed vital to tighten Lee’s control of South Korea’s biggest conglomerate. The prosecution had demanded 12 years in prison for Lee.

But the appeals court acknowledged as bribes only some 3.6 billion won which Samsung sent to Choi’s German-based firm to sponsor the equestrian training of her daughter, Chung Yoo-ra.

The court found Lee “passively” complied with Park’s request to sponsor the former dressage rider after he was apparently intimidated by Park and Choi.  [Yonhap]

Here is the strangest thing about the court ruling:

But the appeals court acknowledged as bribes only some 3.6 billion won which Samsung sent to Choi’s German-based firm to sponsor the equestrian training of her daughter, Chung Yoo-ra.

The court found Lee “passively” complied with Park’s request to sponsor the former dressage rider after he was apparently intimidated by Park and Choi.

What did former President Park tell him that was so intimidating that is what I want to know?

This is a bombshell of an accusation if true:

Prosecutors said Wednesday they will indict ousted President Park Geun-hye on additional bribery charges as early as this week over allegations that during her term Park took bribes from the state spy agency.

An official from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said that prosecutors are also considering “gradually pressing charges against the others involved.”

Prosecutors have been investigating allegations that the National Intelligence Service (NIS), South Korea’s main spy agency, provided Park with up to 200 million won (US$188,000) in kickbacks every month between May 2013 and July 2016.

Prosecutors suspect that the NIS paid Park around 3.8 billion won in total and that she used those funds personally or to carry out illicit political activities.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but if President Park was receiving that much money every month as a bribe from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) then she needs to receive jail time.  With that said I would love to see what this evidence is because the evidence of all her other supposed crimes has not been very forthcoming during this whole legal process she is going through.

I am really curious what evidence the prosecutors have against President Park that she committed bribery because I have yet to see any?:

South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye was named a bribery suspect on Tuesday as special prosecutors wrapped up their three-month probe into a massive influence-peddling scandal.

The probe team, led by Independent Counsel Park Young-soo, suspects that the president colluded with her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil and took bribes from the country’s largest conglomerate Samsung Group in return for business favors, its spokesman Lee Kyu-chul said.

President Park, currently awaiting the Constitutional Court’s decision on her impeachment, will not face charges for now as an incumbent president has immunity from criminal indictment.

State prosecutors will decide whether to continue with the investigation into Park as the deadline for the special probe team expires Tuesday.

Special prosecutors indicted Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of Samsung, on charges of giving or promising some 43.3 billion won (US$38.3 million) in bribes to the president’s jailed friend Choi in return for the government’s backing of a merger of two Samsung affiliates in 2015.  [Yonhap]

I would not be surprised if the prosecutors named her as a bribery suspect just to appease the mobs of protesters knowing full well they don’t have any evidence to charge her.

Considering the mountain of lawyers that Lee Jae-yong is sure to have I hope the ROK prosecutors have some indisputable evidence if they have any hope of convicting him:

Lee Jae-yong, Samsung Group’s de facto leader, was formally arrested Friday on charges of bribery in connection with a high-profile corruption scandal surrounding President Park Geun-hye and her friend.

With the Seoul Central District Court issuing the arrest warrant, Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., became the first leader of the country’s largest business group to be detained in a criminal probe.

The investigation team, led by Independent Counsel Park Young-soo, requested the writ for a second time on Tuesday — less than a month after its first request on Lee’s charges of bribery, embezzlement and perjury was turned down.

In their second pursuit of the warrant, the prosecutors leveled more charges against the tycoon, including hiding criminal proceeds and violating the law on transferring assets abroad in the process of giving bribes to the president’s friend Choi Soon-sil.

“The rationale for and the necessity of (Lee’s) arrest is acknowledged considering the new charges and additional evidence collected,” the court said in a text message sent to reporters.

The court, however, rejected the request for a warrant to arrest Samsung Electronics President Park Sang-jin, saying it is difficult to recognize the need for his detention.

Following the court’s decision, Lee is to stay at a detention center in Uiwang, south of Seoul, where he had been waiting for the ruling.

Prosecutors have suspected that Lee gave or promised some 43 billion won (US$36.3 million) worth of bribes to Choi in exchange for the government’s backing of a merger of two Samsung affiliates in 2015.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

It appears South Korean prosecutors have been able to flip Choi Soon-sil’s niece and she is testifying against her.  With Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong saying he felt pressured him to give money to Choi’s foundation and her own niece confirming the allegation, it seems the prosecutors have a very strong case against her now:

Choi Soon-sil, the woman at the center of a South Korean presidential impeachment scandal, clashed with a niece Tuesday over allegations they coerced Samsung Group into making donations to a sports foundation under their control.

Choi, her niece Chang Si-ho and former Vice Culture and Sports Minister Kim Chong were summoned to the Seoul Central District Court to testify on allegations they colluded to extort more than 1.6 billion won (US$1.35 million) in donations from the nation’s largest business group to the Korea Winter Sports Elite Center, which was established in June 2015.

Chang early on admitted that they forced the donations from Samsung and that she embezzled funds from the center. Her admission came a day after special prosecutors investigating the scandal sought an arrest warrant for Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong on charges of bribery.

According to the prosecutors, Lee was involved in Samsung’s decision to give up to 43 billion won to various organizations linked to Choi in return for the Park Geun-hye administration’s backing of a merger between two companies belonging to the conglomerate in 2015.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but what I haven’t seen strong evidence of yet is how President Park Geun-hye was involved in all of this?

It will be interesting to see if the prosecutors have the evidence to prove their case because Samsung and the women behind the ROK Presidential scandal Choi Soon-sil as well as President Park Geun-hye are denying everything:

Special prosecutors on Monday requested an arrest warrant for Lee Jae-yong, Samsung Group’s de facto leader, on charges of bribery, embezzlement and perjury in connection with an influence-peddling scandal that led to President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment.

Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., is accused of giving or promising to give some 43 billion won (US$36.3 million) worth of bribes to Park’s jailed friend Choi Soon-sil in return for the state-run pension fund’s backing of a merger of two Samsung affiliates, the team’s spokesman Lee Kyu-chul told a regular press briefing.

Samsung signed a 22 billion won consulting contract in August 2015 with a Germany-based firm owned by the woman who is at the center of the scandal and allegedly sent the company billions of won, which was used to fund her daughter’s equestrian training, according to prosecutors. The money that was originally promised to be handed over was included in the amount deemed as bribes, Lee, the spokesman, said.

Some 20.4 billion won the group donated to two nonprofit foundations, allegedly linked to Choi, was also viewed as a kickback. It was the largest amount given by any business group to the organizations.

Prosecutors suspect Samsung supported Choi in return for the National Pension Service (NPS) approving the contested merger of two Samsung subsidiaries on July 17, 2015.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.