[gopsbousperie]

Lee Myung Bak bought an expensive plot of land for his own retirement home using the name of his own son. In suspicious and filthy arrangement the transaction was carried out but exposed. Now he got frightened and withdrawn from his plan. Similar to LHL's HPL Nassim Jade Corruption Scandal.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news...137_96879.html

Retirement home scandal

Cancellation of plan does not dissolve suspicions

It is just natural that President Lee Myung-bak has scrapped his controversial plan to build a retirement home in southern Seoul. Lee had no other choice, considering the aggravating public sentiment and pressure from his own party in the lead-up to an important Seoul mayoral election.

The President and Cheong Wa Dae might be hoping the cancellation would put an end to the so-called Naegok-dong scandal after the village where the housing site is located. Things may not be that simple.

``I find it very regrettable that the retirement house plan has troubled many people,” Lee was quoted as saying during a meeting with key figures Monday to brief them about his U.S. visit. Unfortunately, what most Koreans see as Lee’s excuses show this is not the beginning of the end but the end of the beginning of ``Naegok-gate.”

Questions follow one after another: Has Lee had any intention of sidestepping the law to give the property to his son? How come the first son bought the land at a far lower price than the Presidential Security Service? Why did they price a restaurant on the site worth 468 million won as ``0” won? Has any of the presidential security team’s budget been diverted into the son’s land purchasing fund?

Cheong Wa Dae must clear away all these suspicions, which involve not just some of its officials but the junior Lee and even the first lady, who provided the first couple’s private house as mortgage for her son’s bank loans. These can lead to such diverse charges as the breach of trust, embezzlement of public money, tax evasion and a violation of the real estate transaction law.

The biggest question of all, however, is whether and how deeply the President himself is involved in this shameful deal. And this is why most people find little meaning in the resignation of Lee’s chief bodyguard, comparing it to a ``lizard escaping from a crisis by giving up its tail.” Few believe such a glaring property deal could have been arbitrarily made by an aide or two. If that had been the case by any chance, Lee is the first person responsible for the messy operation of the nation’s power center.

President Lee used to say he would neither have a scandal ending with the suffix of -gate nor fall into lame duck status. The promise has already been broken, and it’s up to him to keep the damage to a minimum.
By most appearance, this case reminds us of the infamous Watergate scandal, which illustrated what could happen when public officials mix up public and private interests ― and lying about it later.

Regretful in this regard was the way Lee stated his position on this matter ― at an informal meeting and by using the governing party leader as his mouthpiece ― reflecting the chief executive’s lamentable political sense. Lee should hold a news conference or other official function, explain what exactly happened from the beginning, make a formal apology, and punish the officials responsible for it.

Even a cliché can be helpful sometimes: Honesty is the best policy.

[ZZtop]

The problem with having to expend so much money and energy to win a one-term presidency.