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Former president Lee Myung-bak leaves the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on the morning of Mar. 15 following a 21-hour questioning session by prosecutors. (Photo Pool)

Former President Lee Myung-bak, 77, denied all claims made by associates and family members over 21 hours of questioning by prosecutors. Lee, who returned home from questioning early in the morning on Mar. 15, also said that original Blue House documents containing evidence to support the allegations were “forgeries,” without providing a basis for his claim. While he admitted to receiving US$100,000 (around 100 million won) from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) through former Blue House personal presidential secretary Kim Hee-joong, he stated that he would “not give details” about how it used.

“With most of the charges, he made statements of denial, saying he was ‘unaware’ or ‘did not remember,’ or that ‘if it was done, staffers must have done it without reporting it to me,’” a prosecutor with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office investigation team said in a meeting with reporters that afternoon. Lee also dismissed the statements of associates including former Blue House general affairs and planning secretary Kim Baek-joon, Cheonggye Foundation executive secretary Lee Byung-mo, and DAS president Kim Sung-woo, as well as the sources of alleged bribes, including former Woori Financial Group chairman Lee Pal-sung.

“These were false statements made to get their own punishments reduced,” Lee said of their statements.

The former president’s attitude represented an about-face from his message ahead of questioning the day before, when he declared himself “sincerely sorry to all the people suffering because of me.” In the case of Blue House reporting documents confiscated by prosecutors from the Yeongpo Building in Seoul’s Seocho neighbor in connection with Samsung’s payment of DAS litigation costs, Lee claimed not to have received the reports or accused the documents of being “forged,” prosecutors reported.

Lee emerged from the prosecutors’ offices at 6:25 am and returned to his residence in Seoul’s Nonhyeon neighborhood. The actual questioning lasted slightly over 14 hours until 11:45 pm the night before, with a suspect examination record extending to over 190 A4 pages – nearly twice as long as the roughly 100-page record for fellow former President Park Geun-hye, 66, for her summons and detention a year ago.

“Our focus during questioning was on listening as much as possible to what former president Lee said,” a senior prosecutor said.

With Lee denying almost all of the charges against him, prosecutors see an arrest warrant request as inevitable. Observers are speculating the decision on whether to request a warrant may come as early as this week.

By Kim Yang-jin, staff reporter

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