Tag: corruption

Prosecutors seem to be acting quick to get to the bottom of the corruption surrounding President Moon’s new Justice Minister, Cho Kuk:

Prosecutors on Saturday arrested a cousin of Justice Minister Cho Kuk at the center of corruption allegations surrounding Cho and his family’s investment in a private equity fund.

The cousin, also surnamed Cho, was arrested at Incheon International Airport earlier in the day on embezzlement charges, according to officials. 

After being transported to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, the cousin is currently being interrogated, the officials said.

He is allegedly the de facto head of controversial private equity fund Co-Link PE. Co-Link invested 1.4 billion won ($1.17 million) in local company Wealth C&T, whose sales soared while Cho was serving as senior presidential secretary for civil affairs. 

Co-Link is also alleged to have falsely reported to the financial regulator that it received 7.4 billion won from Cho’s family for investment, despite the pledged amount being 1.05 billion won. 

The arrest came as prosecutors are widening their probe into the corruption allegations surrounding the justice minister.

Despite the allegations, coupled with suspicions regarding his daughter’s education, Cho was sworn in as justice minister on Monday and said that he will not interfere with the ongoing probe. He ordered the prosecution to conduct the investigation in a fair and strict manner.

Yonhap

Cho says he won’t interfere in the investigation when he already has.

Cho Kuk hires 14 lawyers to defend him/his family. Cho Kuk, the day after becoming the Justice Minister, uses his power to reduce the prosecution staff/resources investigating his various unethical/illegal activities. #AbuseOfPower
at a miminimum. https://t.co/B39lCqiJqv

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) September 14, 2019

The ROK prosecutors tried to put some heat on Cho Kuk by indicting his wife for fraud:

The wife of justice minister nominee Cho Kuk was indicted on Friday over allegations that she fabricated a school certificate for her daughter.

The prosecution filed a formal charge against Cho’s wife, a professor surnamed Chung, without summoning her for its probe into a series of corruption allegations involving Cho’s family.

Chung, 57, a Dongyang University professor, was accused of forging a school president’s award certificate in 2012 to help her daughter enter a medical school in 2014.

The move is expected to deal a blow to Cho, who attended a parliamentary confirmation hearing Friday, nearly one month after he was nominated to lead the justice ministry.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but he had already thrown his wife under the bus before to advance his nomination.

It apparently worked because President Moon went ahead and appointed him to ROK Justice Minister as expected:

President Moon Jae-in appointed Cho Kuk as justice minister Monday, emphasizing the need to continue the government’s reform drive.

He appealed for “public understanding and support” for his decision to appoint Cho despite controversies over alleged ethical lapses and wrongdoing by his family. Cho’s wife has even been indicted on charges of forging a university president’s citation for her daughter.

Moon said he’s aware of the fierce debate over whether Cho is suitable for the post.

“But I thought what’s more important is to maintain the principle and consistency,” Moon said in a televised statement issued after giving Cho a letter of appointment at Cheong Wa Dae.

It would be a “bad precedent” to not appoint Cho solely on the basis of suspicions of illicit acts that have not been confirmed, Moon said.

Yonhap

Over the coming weeks expect to hear the term “reform” quite a bit because President Moon wanted Cho Kuk as the Justice Minister to take power away from prosecutors for corruption investigations. President Moon wants to move indictment powers from prosecutors to a special unit. If this special unit is staffed with political allies like Cho, this would allow the Blue House to control who gets indicted.

Here is what came out of the ROK Justice Minister confirmation hearings. He essentially denied all the corruption claims and if any did happen they were his wife’s fault:

Justice Minister nominee Cho Kuk denied he had any part in alleged corruption involving his family during a confirmation hearing Friday, as political parties wrangled over his suitability for the post.

Cho repeatedly apologized to the public for the allegations that have caused public disappointment and uproar, but he also expressed his unwavering commitment to carrying out reform of the prosecution.

“For the reform, I think that a proper candidate for justice minister should have no experience serving as a prosecutor. If not, the person cannot help representing interests of the prosecution,” Cho told lawmakers.

Cho, a former senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, was bombarded with questions by lawmakers over his supposed ethical lapses linked to suspected corruption involving his family.

Yonhap

Here is where new allegations have surfaced and he blamed his wife:

During the hearing, lawmakers mainly bickered over fresh allegations that Cho’s spouse may have fabricated a school award for her daughter.

Cho’s wife, a Dongyang University professor surnamed Chung, faces allegations that she may have forged the dean’s award certificate in 2012 to help the daughter enter the PNU medical school in 2014.

The award was allegedly given in recognition of volunteer work at the school’s English education center for children from rural villages in Yeongju, 230 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Chung later became the chief of the center.

Dongyang University Dean Choi Sung-hae said Thursday that Chung asked him to say he had entrusted her with the authority to issue the dean’s award certificate. His remarks spawned speculation that Chung may have attempted to destroy evidence.

Choi told Yonhap News Agency that Chung put her husband on the phone with him and he was pressed by Cho to make a false statement on the forgery allegations against Chung.

Cho acknowledged that he spoke by phone with Choi, but dismissed claims that he might have exerted pressure on the chief.

“I told Choi that I am sorry (about the row) and asked him to reveal the truth as it is,” Cho said.

“If my wife committed (the alleged forgery), she should have to take legal responsibility, as everybody is equal before law,” he noted.

Look how brazen Cho is that he knows he is under intense scrutiny, but still gets on the phone to pressure a witness before his confirmation hearing and then blames his wife for anything illegal that may have happened.

He knows just like other corrupt Moon administration officials that he will get appointed and the public flogging he is taking now will be quickly forgotten by a largely Blue House controlled news media.

Cho Kuk is pretty trying to claim that he knew nothing of the corruption involving his family members:

Cho Kuk, the embattled justice minister nominee, denied academic-related allegations over his daughter and a dubious investment in a private equity fund (PEF), as he sought to clarify corruption scandals involving his family on Monday.

Cho, former senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, held a press conference at the National Assembly to address the scandals as the hearings set for Monday and Tuesday have effectively fallen through amid political wrangling.

Cho is the focus of public outcry over alleged corruption involving his family, including the suspected undue entrance by his daughter into an elite university and a hefty dubious investment in the PEF.

His daughter was listed as a primary writer of a pathology paper published in a renowned medical journal when she took part in a two-week internship at a medical science institute in 2008 as a high school student. Critics speculate that he may have been involved in her listing and that the paper might have helped her gain admission to Korea University in 2010.

“I did not know the detailed process (about my daughter being listed as the first writer for the paper) at that time, and I’ve come to identify the allegation during the latest verification process,” Cho said.

Cho dismissed allegations that he had contacted a professor to enable his daughter to receive preferential treatment. (……)

The nominee, meanwhile, flatly denied allegations over the PEF investment by his family.

His wife faces allegations that she sought to evade the gift tax after she invested over 1 billion won (US$865,765) in the PEF with her two children.

Cho’s family promised to invest the money that is larger than its total wealth in the PEF two months after Cho was named as senior presidential secretary for civil affairs in May 2017.

The fund bought a firm that produces automatic switches for streetlamps, which later secured hundreds of orders issued by the government and saw an increase in sales.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the opposition lawmakers have backed down from demanding his family members testify during this confirmation hearing. Also if you can believe it, Cho is going around preaching that the ROK needs a fair and just society and called for the need to eradicate social ills committed by the privileged when he is part of the problem.

With that all said it appears that Cho will be appointed by President Moon which means he can squash any investigation into his family.

The Moon administration is continuing to try and push Cho Kuk into the powerful Justice Minister position despite the corruption allegations:

Cheong Wa Dae on Friday ratcheted up pressure on the National Assembly to hold a confirmation hearing for the justice minister nominee, frustrated by a political dogfight over the issue.

Cho Kuk, a law professor who served as senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, is at the center of intensifying bickering between ruling and major opposition parties.

Three weeks earlier, President Moon Jae-in nominated Cho to be the new justice minister amid his drive to reform the state prosecution.

Cho, however, has faced harsh political attacks and public condemnation over a host of scandals, including suspicions about his daughter’s entry into coveted schools in South Korea and dubious investment in a private equity fund (PEF) by Cho and his family members.

Political parties have agreed to open a two-day hearing next Monday but failed to reach a deal on details, including the list of witnesses.

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) says the nominee’s wife and other family members should testify in parliament as well.

The ruling Democratic Party is opposed to the call, stressing that it’s enough to give Cho an opportunity to explain the scandals.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but obviously the ruling party does not want Cho Kuk’s family members to testify because there is no way to explain away the alleged corruption involving his daughter.

This whole Cho Kuk nomination shows how committed the Moon administration is towards changing the ROK Constitution to make it easier to form a confederation with North Korea and allow President Moon to run for a second term. Moon’s close friend Cho Kuk becoming the Justice Minister is part of this strategy.

After his confirmation the next part of their strategy will be increasing their hold in the National Assembly in the 2020 elections to facilitate changing the ROK Constitution. This is why the Moon administration needs to continue to play the anti-Japan card and depending how things go with North Korea, we may even see the anti-US card played as well leading up to the election.

How come I feel this is just a big dog and pony show to help smooth the way towards Cho Kuk nomination approval next week?:

The prosecution began investigating allegations surrounding justice minister nominee Cho Kuk and his family, Tuesday, carrying out large-scale search and seizure raids on a dozen schools and other facilities linked to the suspicions.

According to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, investigators conducted searches at Busan Medical Center, and Seoul National (SNU), Korea, Dankook and Kongju National universities for evidence related to the allegations of preferential treatment given to Cho’s daughter in her college admissions and receipt of scholarships.

The law enforcement agency also sent investigators to a private equity firm that Cho made a huge investment in amid suspicions that he tried to transfer his wealth to his children without paying taxes; as well as a private school foundation run by his mother. 

Currently, 11 complaints have been filed with the prosecution regarding the scandal. 

“As public concern has been raised over the allegations against Cho, we decided to conduct the raids to clarify the facts,” a prosecutor said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but would anyone be surprised if the Blue House announces that these raids produced no evidence thus Cho’s nomination should be approved next week.

So does anyone think this bill is intended root out corruption or people that don’t agree with the politics of the Moon administration?:

he ruling Democratic Party (DP) decided Monday to fast-track two bills on establishing a special investigative unit tasked with probing allegations of corruption by high-ranking officials.
Earlier in the day, the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party (BP) proposed a separate bill on limiting the authority of the probe unit and fast-tracking both its bill and a relevant measure proposed by it and three other parties last week.
The National Assembly faces heightened tensions as the DP and three minor parties agreed last week to fast-track four bills linked to electoral reform and the establishment of a unit to investigate alleged corruption by high-ranking government and public officials. (………)

The BP bill calls for setting up a panel to review the appropriateness of charges filed by the probe unit, a tool aimed at preventing it from wielding excessive authority for indictment. Under the four parties’ deal, the unit will be able to indict only judges, prosecutors and high-ranking police officers, an institutional tool that can keep prosecutors in check.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.