South Korean president's son indicted
Bribery, tax evasion alleged in corruption scandal
June 5, 1997
Web posted at: 11:40 a.m. EDT (1540 GMT)SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- A son of President Kim Young-sam was charged with bribery and tax evasion Thursday in a corruption scandal that has crippled his father's administration.
The indictment of Kim Hyun-chul, 37, was the final act in an investigation by state prosecutors who charged him with taking $3.6 million in bribes from two businessmen seeking government contracts, licenses and his influence in a court case.
Prosecutors also charged him with taking $3.8 million in cash from four businessmen and laundering the money to evade $1.5 million in taxes. Those payments were not bribes, they said.
The younger Kim, arrested May 17, has denied any wrongdoing. Under Korean law, he could be jailed for life for tax evasion. The maximum prison sentence for bribery is five years.
Kim Hyun-chul's case came to the fore when prosecutors uncovered a massive financial scandal following January's bankruptcy of Hanbo Steel under a bank debt of nearly $6 billion.
Government officials, legislators and bankers were arrested and charged with receiving bribes from Hanbo officials in return for securing massive bank loans for the troubled steelmaker.
Public attention is now focused on how $17 million Kim Hyun-chul kept in secret bank accounts was raised and spent -- and, whether any of it was left over from his father's election campaign five years ago.
Opposition parties charge that a substantial amount of the campaign funds came from Hanbo.
But in a speech last week, President Kim refused to disclose the source and amount of his campaign funds, saying it was impossible to calculate.
The scandal has destroyed the president's credibility in the run-up to a December presidential election. By law, Kim cannot run again, but he had wanted to influence the result.
Seoul Bureau Chief Sohn Jie-Ae and Reuters contributed to this report.
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