A whistle-blower whose allegations led to the indictment of Samsung Group's chairman said Friday he seeks a reopening of the investigation to correct what he called the "whitewashing of the conglomerate's corruptive behavior".

A special prosecutor charged Lee Kun-hee, 66, with evading 112.8 billion won (US$114 million) in taxes and illegally transferring wealth to his son. But Lee was cleared of bribery and allowed to remain free.

Kim Yong-chul, a former lawyer for Samsung who raised the corruption allegations in October and prompted the months-long independent probe, said the findings sidestepped key charges.

"The special prosecutor did not even summon suspected bribe takers," he said in a statement jointly written with the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, a leading civic group.

The special prosecutor, Cho Joon-woong, faced criticism even before his findings were announced on Thursday over his reticent approach towards the lobbying allegation. Such influential figures as Prosecutor-General Lim Chai-jin and Kim Sung-ho, chief of the National Intelligence Service, and Lee Jong-chan, a senior aide to President Lee Myung-bak, were accused by the whistle-blower of accepting bribes, but the prosecutor only questioned them by mail, not in person.

Also, witnesses like Rep. Choo Mi-ae, who said that she had been offered 10 million won put in a golf case by a Samsung staff member in the 2000 parliamentary election campaign, were not probed, he said.

Citing a lack of evidence, the special prosecutor said, "In our extensive raids and tracking of bank accounts, we failed to find any traces of lobbying," and "We found it difficult to continue the investigation by only relying on Kim Yong-chul, who frequently changed his words."

SEOUL, April 18 (Yonhap)