| Kim Jung-haeng |
By Lee Kyung-min
The prosecution has launched an investigation into Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) President Kim Jung-haeng and other key officials at the committee over allegations of embezzlement and abuse of power.
This move is part of the prosecution's wider investigation into corruption during the former Lee Myung-bak administration. Kim was a key aide to Lee.
Prosecutors at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said Wednesday they are tracing the bank accounts of several KOC officials on suspicions they embezzled money to create a slush fund.
They are especially targeting Kim for abuse of power. It has been long suspected that the KOC exercises influence on sports organizations and associations, receiving favors from them in return for providing financial support with its annual budget of billions of won.
The KOC, supervised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, manages 57 organizations and allocates their budgets.
Prosecutors plan to summon Kim and others involved after finding sufficient evidence.
Kim, a former judo athlete and head of the Korea Judo Association (KJA), flatly denied the allegations saying he had nothing to be ashamed of.
"I became aware of the probe while watching the news. I can proudly say I did nothing wrong regarding KOC activities," he told reporters at the Seoul Olympic Parktel in southern Seoul before attending a KOC representatives meeting.
Besides the embezzlement allegations, speculation has emerged over Kim's election as president of the KOC in 2013 following previous chief Park Yong-sung, the former Doosan Heavy Industries chairman.
Kim was one of Park's closest aides for more than 30 years, and it was alleged that Park used his influence to help Kim get elected.
In 2013, the culture ministry conducted a special audit on the sports sector including the KOC and found 330 corruption cases. As a measure to root out such prevalent corruption, the police and the prosecution jointly launched a special investigation team in May of last year, looking into alleged irregularities in the KOC's process to select sponsors.
As part of countermeasures, the ministry announced that it will give the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation more authority to investigate sports organizations' alleged embezzlement of government subsidies. Organizations where corruption is found will not receive any subsidies.