An opposition lawmaker Wednesday claimed that Choi Soon-sil, President Park Geun-hye’s confidante who is at center of a corruption scandal, attempted to orchestrate a cover-up by telling her associates to falsely testify to investigators.

During a parliamentary hearing on the scandal, Rep. Park Young-sun of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea released minutes of a purported phone conversation between Choi and an unidentified acquaintance of hers.

In the transcript, Choi ordered her acquaintance to instruct her associate Ko Young-tae on what to say to the investigators. The instructions were specifically on how to react to the testimonies of the former secretary-general of the Mir Foundation, Lee Sung-han, the whistleblower in the scandal.

“Tell Ko to get a grip. We have to make it look like they stole this and that, that Lee’s actions followed a specific plan and he demanded money (from Choi). If we don’t do this, we’re all done,” said Choi in the transcript.

Lee pointed out that media reports on Lee blackmailing Choi for cash surfaced after the conversation, which was presumed to have taken place in late October before Choi returned to Korea.
Choi is suspected of using the nonprofit Mir Foundation and K-Sports Foundation to siphon public funds. The foundations were established with donations from conglomerates, which investigators suspect may have been bribes based on the coercion of Choi, Park’s former aides and even the president herself.

Choi had also tried to deny her close relationship with Ko.

Ko, the chief of a handbag manufacturing company, served as a director at Choi’s Germany-based paper companies and is suspected to have had a close personal relationship with her. The former national team fencer testified earlier that he manufactured dozens of bags and clothing for Park and delivered them through Choi.

“If they (the investigators) ask how he (Ko) knows me, don’t mention the bags and say that we know each other through a mutual friend from way back. ... Just say I was interested in sports and that friend connected us and I helped him in many ways,” she was recorded as saying.

The minutes also showed her emphasizing that Ko should not mention a company they jointly founded.

Plastic surgeon Kim Young-jae and gynecologist Lee Im-soon -- whose hospital Park and Choi had reportedly frequently visited -- denied receiving such instructions from Choi.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)