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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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 Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 4:45 pm Post subject: Anyone following the Lee Myung Bak situation? |
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So they cleared him of any wrongdoing. My lady thinks it's a national shame. Anyone following this have any opinions? How about your spouse?
Did you catch the line about the laser/ink jet printer?
Personally, I think they're all crooks.
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State prosecutors yesterday cleared presidential frontrunner Lee Myung-bak of allegations of financial fraud, thereby removing the biggest obstacle to his presidential bid just two weeks ahead of the election.
"We found no evidence to confirm that candidate Lee collaborated with Kim Kyung-joon to rig the stock prices of Optional Ventures or that he benefited from it. So, we concluded that he is not guilty of those charges," Kim Hong-il, the prosecutor in charge, told reporters yesterday.
The prosecutors' office indicted Kim, Lee's former business partner, on charges of stock-price manipulation, embezzlement and document forgery.
The probe was initiated after the liberal United New Democratic Party filed a lawsuit on Nov. 6 claiming that Lee had colluded with Kim in artificially raising the stock prices of Kim's Optional Ventures in 2001. The investigation accelerated after Kim was extradited from the United States 10 days later.
Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak meets officials from a tourism association yesterday before prosecutors cleared him of involvement in a financial fraud case. [The Korea Herald]
Wrapping up a month-long probe, the prosecution issued a report detailing the business relationship between the two men, and the finances of a group of businesses involved in the scandal.
Key issues were what Lee's role was in Kim's purported stock-rigging and embezzlement, and whether Lee was the actual owner of both the scandal-ridden BBK and its major investor, DAS.
"Despite an extensive and comprehensive probe, we found no traces of Lee's involvement," the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor also dismissed the charge that Lee was the real owner of BBK. During his interrogation, Kim reversed his initial statement, and admitted that he owned 100 percent of BBK.
The investigators also secured a memo handwritten by Kim that reads: "Kim Kyung-joon owns a 100 percent stake in BBK in February 2001." This gave the lie to Lee's alleged connections to BBK.
Kim also confessed that he forged a document which his family recently submitted to prosecutors claiming that Lee once had 100 percent of BBK shares until he sold them to Kim on Feb. 21, 2000.
"At the time that the agreement was inked, E-Capital owned 600,000 BBK shares, making the contract impossible. The form itself is very sloppy, with no signatures. Plus, the agreement paper was printed out by an inkjet printer, although the BBK office at that time used only laser printers," said the prosecutor.
After the prosecutors presented this evidence to Kim, he conceded that the document is a fake, according to the prosecutor.
Lee's partnership with Kim began in February 2000 when they co-founded a financial holding company called LK-eBank.
Kim founded the investment fund BBK in 1999. Around the time that BBK was shut down by the government for fabricating its investment report, in April of 2001, Kim took over a Kosdaq-listed venture capital firm called Gwangeun Investment and renamed it Optional Ventures. This is where he manipulated stock prices and misappropriated company funds worth some 38 billion won.
The prosecution also said that Kim acted alone in the stock- price rigging and fund misappropriation.
The authorities repudiated the long-standing suspicions regarding Lee's ties with DAS, the auto parts maker registered under the names of Lee's brother and brother-in-law.
"There was nothing to prove that any money was sent to Lee from DAS. Also, after exhaustively examining the process of DAS' investment in BBK, we have found no evidence that Lee owned DAS."
Lee's political rivals have claimed that Lee is the actual owner of DAS. The company invested 19 billon won in BBK, which sparked speculation that Lee influenced DAS' investment decision, and owned BBK.
If Lee had been found to be the owner of DAS, he would have violated a civil-servant ethics law which requires such individuals to report their assets; in his case, during his term as the mayor of Seoul from 2002 to 2006.
"Lee was never registered on the corporate books as a share-holder of DAS. Internally decided by the board of directors, DAS' investment in BBK was a 'regular' investment act, as our objective evidence demonstrates," said the prosecutor.
By Song Sang-ho
([email protected])
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, I've been following it.
Personally, I believe he stole/appropriated lots' of money, and used his position to hedge investments on insider information.
Pretty much what every other Korean citizen would do given the opportunity. Seriously, how many people in Korea do you know that are hoping to 'find out the next big hint on investment', or cheating on their year end taxes?
LMB just did it in bigger numbers. |
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Scotticus
Joined: 18 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 5:11 pm Post subject: |
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| Yeah, I saw an article on the BBC about this when I woke up this morning. I shrugged. The K-Legal system is right up there with the American legal system as far as letting famous/important people off the hook for crimes normal people would spend a decade or more in jail for. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 6:11 pm Post subject: |
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My wife is terrified Korea's slipping back into oligarchy. She gave me a big long explanation recently about how Lee Myungbag ties in with the Samsung thing indirectly. The Samsung guys were caught bribing the prosecutors, and all the politicial parties were crying for the blood of the prosecutors, except Lee Myungbag. Mysteriously, the prosecutors are letting Lee go. Lee's former partner-in-crime told his mother he was visited in jail (or wherever he is now) by a prosecutor offering him a drastically reduced sentence if he stops implicating Lee. At this point, even Lee's supporters aren't defending his innocence; they're just trying to get him out from under the law and succeeding.
One more freaky thing, my wife recently posted on a Naver cafe somewhere that Lee Myungbag bears a striking resemblance to Marilyn Manson. Nothing negative about his politics, his bible-humping, or his corruption. She got a vicious e-mail from a Naver administrator telling her it was being deleted. It's suddenly becoming not allowed to talk about the guy. |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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| Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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You think so? |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 6:51 pm Post subject: |
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If the eyeshadow fits...
Also, I want to point out that a politician's appearance has nothing to do with his abilities. Kim Ku, one of Korea's greatest politicians, looked like Snow White was hiding in his cottage. And plenty of handsome men have made terrible leaders. Looking at you, dude running for president who used to be a news anchor. |
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The_Eyeball_Kid
Joined: 20 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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I think he bears an uncanny resemblance to one of the Pathetic Sharks from Viz:
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:05 pm Post subject: |
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| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
| My wife is terrified Korea's slipping back into oligarchy. She gave me a big long explanation recently about how Lee Myungbag ties in with the Samsung thing indirectly. The Samsung guys were caught bribing the prosecutors, and all the politicial parties were crying for the blood of the prosecutors, except Lee Myungbag. Mysteriously, the prosecutors are letting Lee go. Lee's former partner-in-crime told his mother he was visited in jail (or wherever he is now) by a prosecutor offering him a drastically reduced sentence if he stops implicating Lee. At this point, even Lee's supporters aren't defending his innocence; they're just trying to get him out from under the law and succeeding. |
Did your wife fail to mention that it was Noh and the current administration that tried to put the kibosh on the investigation? That it was people in this administration and Noh's 'team' that were the ones that money was given to?
I'm no where near saying that LMB is a good guy or innocent of the accusations, but this administration has A) Used MASSIVE amounts of public resources to try and discredit him, B) broken Korean electoral law, and C) Cut special deals with unreliable informants to try to raise a case against him.
If the prosecution is in LMB's pocket, why didn't he squash this investigation before it even took off? Don't tell me it's because he wanted to seem 'fair' or something.
The truth is, the case was weak years ago, and hasn't been getting any stronger with the passage of time. Noh and his ilk are scared to death of a conservative take-over and have been doing everything in their power to stop it. Whether it be:
Restricting press freedoms:
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200710/200710180016.html
Silencing those who do not agree with them
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200504/200504250039.html
Use government resources to scrutinize a candidate's pledges
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200706/200706220015.html
Looking at those links, it's easy to see how it is VERY possible that the government is using it's muscle to try to eliminate and discredit LMB.
Or, you can believe that he somehow controls the prosecution and that this investigation was all about improving his image  |
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JungMin
Joined: 18 May 2005
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| Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Haha, those pictures are great!! |
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Milwaukiedave
Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Location: Goseong
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| Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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| It seem that, barring a disaster of some sort in the next 2 weeks, LMB will be the next president. I don't know whether to be happy about that or not. |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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| Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:33 pm Post subject: |
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I have to agree with Superhero, although I think they're just about all crooks. I think the current administration has cost this country dearly.
My lady is big on #12, I think. He's the guy who was the former supreme court justice, or something like that. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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| bassexpander wrote: |
| I have to agree with Superhero... |
??  |
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The_Eyeball_Kid
Joined: 20 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Milwaukiedave wrote: |
| It seem that, barring a disaster of some sort in the next 2 weeks, LMB will be the next president. I don't know whether to be happy about that or not. |
I can't think of any reason why you would be happy about it. (Unless you're part of a chaebol family, then you would be tickled pink.) |
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Justin Hale
Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Location: the Straight Talk Express
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| Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 8:02 pm Post subject: |
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Lee Myeong Park has clearly had a nose job.
It looks heinous. |
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kermo
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: Eating eggs, with a comb, out of a shoe.
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| Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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| I've always thought the guy looked a bit like Voldemort, but I have to thank him for giving me the chance to teach my students the word "shady." They were struggling to find the right word to describe him, coming up with "suspicious background," etc. |
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