Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo offers to resign over bribery scandal

onnaedo

April 21, 2015 1:46 PM

Lee has been accused of accepting 30 million won (about N5.5 million) in illegal campaign funds from businessman Sung Wan-jong.

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Just 2 months in to his tenure, South Korean Prime Minister, Lee Wan-koo has offered to resign after being hit with a bribery scandal.

Lee has been accused of accepting 30 million won (about N5.5 million) in illegal campaign funds from businessman Sung Wan-jong.

BBC reports note left by Sung, who died in an apparent suicide earlier this month, listed eight figures he claimed to have bribed, including Lee.

Under South Korean law, politicians cannot accept more than 100,000 won (about N18,000) in contributions.

President Park Geun-hye, who is due to decide on his resignation after she returns from Peru where she is on a state visit, has called for a "thorough investigation" on the matter. She said in a statement:

"I find it regrettable. I also feel sympathy for the agony of the prime minister."

Lee had denied knowing Sung, the boss of a construction company, very well, but media reports have suggested otherwise. Sung, who was himself under investigation for corruption, told a local newspaper that he gave 30 million won to Lee in 2013 when he was seeking re-election for parliament.

He was found shortly after hanging from a tree by his tie, with reports saying he was about to be questioned by authorities over allegations that he embezzled company money to bribe politicians.

Lee became prime minister after a protracted hunt for a candidate to replace his predecessor, Chung Hong-won, who himself resigned shortly after the Sewol ferry disaster in April 2014 that killed more than 300 people.

onnaedo