NPAD repeats call for probe of Lee administration graft

Opposition lawmakers on Sunday intensified their demand for parliamentary investigations into past government projects accused of unnecessarily depleting public coffers.

Lawmakers from the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy have been demanding probes into alleged corruption in the defense industry, the four-river restoration project and former President Lee Myung-bak’s “resource diplomacy.”

But the governing Saenuri Party appears reluctant to agree to all of the demands, as some of its key officials could be linked to the cases.

Most prominent among them is Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan. Choi served as the knowledge economy minister in the Lee administration and is currently spearheading President Park Geun-hye’s key economic initiatives.

Opposition lawmakers charge that under Choi, public companies such as the Korea National Oil Corporation invested trillions of won in energy development projects abroad without producing meaningful results. The investments were made as part of President Lee’s “resource diplomacy” policy, which aimed to lessen South Korea’s energy dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

Main opposition party Rep. Seo Young-kyo claimed Lee’s resource diplomacy had cost over 34 trillion won ($31.2 billion) in public funds.

NPAD floor leader Rep. Woo Yoon-keun on Sunday said more anonymous reports regarding other questionable investments undertaken in the resource diplomacy policy and the four-river restoration project were coming in.

“We will tell the public more specifically what they are sometime early (this) week,” Woo said.

Rumors have floated that the nation’s two main parties are negotiating a backroom deal over the opposition’s demands, although the opposition has denied the existence of such a gambit. According to the rumors, Saenuri officials will agree to the parliamentary probes if opposition legislators agree to pass controversial amendments to the Public Officials Pension Act.

The presidential office and the governing party support the changes, which propose to increase public officials’ payments into their pension fund, while decreasing payouts to retirees. Government employees and the main opposition party have flatly rejected the revisions.

Saenuri legislators, however, appear to be less ambivalent toward probing alleged graft cases in the defense industry.

“I think there is enough public support to conduct parliamentary investigations into corruption cases in the ROKS Tongyeong,” said a senior aide to Rep. Lee Wan-koo of the Saenuri Party last week. Lee is the party’s floor leader.

The Tongyeong is a newly acquired ship by the Navy that has been linked to a multibillion-won graft case. A former Navy officer is charged with receiving about 400 million won in kickbacks from a parts supplier. The supplier is charged with selling shoddy equipment to the Navy, while another defense official responsible for purchasing parts for the vessel has been indicted for overstating the capabilities of the faulty equipment.

By Jeong Hunny ()