Prosecution Office summons former protocol secretary Lee Byung-ki as witness in ‘Roh Tae-woo slush fund’ probe

[Financial News] The Prosecution Office is questioning Lee Byung-ki, a former Blue House protocol secretary, as a witness in its investigation into allegations of a slush fund involving the family of the late former President Roh Tae-woo.
According to legal sources on the 23rd, the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecution Office, headed by Chief Prosecutor So Jeong-su, summoned Lee, the former secretary, as a witness and has been questioning him since 10 a.m. that day.
Lee served as a Blue House protocol secretary under the Roh Tae-woo administration and as chief of staff to the president under the Park Geun-hye administration. His name also appears in a memo about the slush fund written by Kim Ok-suk, the wife of the late former president.
The Prosecution Office has questioned as witnesses officials from the East Asia Culture Center and former secretaries suspected of being named account holders for borrowed-name accounts linked to the slush fund. The East Asia Culture Center is a corporation whose chairman was Roh Jae-heon, the late former president’s son and South Korea’s ambassador to China.
Investigators are looking into the source of the total 15.2 billion won that Kim donated to the East Asia Culture Center and the Roh Tae-woo Center, among other matters.
Previously, the Prosecution Office also notified Director Roh last month to appear as a witness, but no specific date for questioning has yet been set.
The allegations emerged during divorce proceedings between Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, and Director Roh. At the time, the appeals court ruled, based on Kim’s memo and promissory notes, among other evidence, that the late former president’s slush funds had flowed into SK Group.
In 2024, the May 18 Memorial Foundation later alleged that assets illicitly amassed by the late former president’s family had been concealed, and filed a complaint with prosecutors against Kim, Ambassador Roh and Director Roh, among others, on suspicion of violations including the Punishment of Tax Offenses Act and the Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment.
After questioning the complainant in November of the same year, prosecutors made few visible moves in the investigation for some time. They stepped it up last August by conducting searches and seizures at Kim’s home in Seoul’s Seodaemun District and at the East Asia Culture Center, among other locations.
Meanwhile, since its launch on the 2nd, the Prosecution Office has been permitted, as an exception, to continue investigating for up to 90 days cases that had been under investigation by the former prosecution service. If it does not complete an investigation within that period, it must transfer the case to the investigative agency with jurisdiction.
 



[email protected] Choi Eun-sol Reporter