S. Korea’s Top Tycoon Queried on Slush Fund
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SEOUL — Prosecutors on Thursday grilled South Korea’s best-known tycoon, Chung Ju Yung, founder of the Hyundai Group, as they worked through the nation’s top boardrooms to discover the source of former President Roh Tae Woo’s slush fund.
The 80-year-old honorary chairman of the Hyundai empire, who is in fragile health, was supported by an aide as he walked into the prosecutor general’s office.
Chung ignored questions shouted at him by reporters as he stumbled through the building’s revolving doors.
Chung, a South Korean corporate icon, unsuccessfully challenged President Kim Young Sam for the presidency in 1992. His political ambitions put Hyundai under a cloud.
Later, he was given a suspended jail sentence for diverting his group’s money to finance his campaign.
Prosecutors suspect that much of the money Roh amassed was taken as kickbacks, the Yonhap news agency reported.
On Oct. 27, Roh confessed on television to amassing $653 million, which he said he used for “governing” South Korea between 1988 and 1993.
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