********, South Gyeongsang - Prosecutors will summon associates of the elder brother of the late President Roh Moo-hyun to look into the nature of a large sum of suspicious money found in their bank accounts and traces of dubious transactions linked to them.

A senior prosecutor from the special unit of the Changwon District Prosecutors’ Office made a revelation last week that investigators have discovered tens of billions of won in the bank account of an alleged money manager of Roh Geon-pyeong, elder brother of the former president.

Lee Jun-myeong, the prosecutor, said that the discovery was made while investigating Roh for other corruption charges.

According to the local prosecution, the money was held in a bank account belonging to Park Seok-jae, a younger brother of Park Yeong-jae. A high school alumnus of Roh, Park Yeong-jae was also known by the nickname “Roh’s butler.”

The prosecution said Park Seok-jae’s company had two bank accounts, and one of them had a series of suspicious transactions.

From 2005 to May 2008, the account had 17,000 deposits and withdrawals, and the amount of the transactions totaled 107.9 billion won ($92.67 million). Over three and a half years, 53.9 billion won was deposited, while 54 billion won was withdrawn.

Records showed that the transactions were the most frequent from 2005 to 2007, while Roh Moo-hyun was in his office. Every month, up to 500 deposits and withdrawals were made, the prosecution said.

The records also showed that 13 billion won in total was withdrawn in cash, without any other documentation of the spending. Other transactions were mostly marked as dealings with business partners or payments for employees.

On Oct. 21, 2005, 600 million won was wired from Park Yeon-cha, former chairman of Taekwang Industrial and one of the wealthiest patrons of Roh Moo-hyun.

 

 

'노무현 형' 노건평 측근 계좌 통해 드나든 돈 1079억

2008년 5월까지 3년 반 동안
거래횟수 총 1만7000여 차례
박연차 회장 돈도 6억원 입금
박영재 “노건평과 거래한 적 없다”

검찰이 추적해 온 고 노무현 전 대통령의 형 건평(70)씨 주변 인물 계좌의 뭉칫돈은 ‘영재고철’ 박영재(57)씨의 동생 석재(55)씨 계좌에 들어 있었던 것으로 21일 확인됐다.

　이날 창원지검에 따르면 석재씨 회사의 법인 계좌는 2개로 모두 농협 계좌다. 이 중 한 계좌의 세부 내역을 보면 2005년부터 2008년 5월까지 거래 횟수는 모두 1만7000여 차례로, 거래 규모는 모두 1079억원이다. 3년 반 동안 입금액이 539억원, 출금액이 540억원이었다.

　거래는 참여정부 때인 2005년부터 2007년까지 매우 활발해 매달 400번에서 500번가량 입출금이 이뤄졌다. 또 매월 용처가 정확히 기록되지 않은 돈이 현금으로 꾸준히 빠져나가 총액이 130억원에 달했다. 특히 2005년 10월 21일에는 박연차 전 태광실업 회장으로부터 모두 6억원을 입금받은 사실이 기록돼 있다. 나머지 거래는 대부분 거래처와의 금전관계 또는 직원 인건비로 명시돼 있다. 하지만 현 정부 출범 이후인 2008년 2월부터 4개월 동안 거래 횟수는 월 70~80회로 급감했고 이 계좌에서 출금된 현금은 5000만원에 불과했다. 현재 잔액은 260만원이었다.