Kang Ki-jung "Never Received Money... Blatant Lie" Strongly Denies Involvement with Lime

"Met at Cheongwadae but didn't take money"
"Called Chief Kim Sangjo? Pure lie"

Former Blue House Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Kang Ki-jung arrived at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office in Yangcheon-gu on the morning of the 12th to file a complaint against Kim Bong-hyun, former chairman of Star Mobility and considered the main culprit in the Lime Asset Management scandal, for perjury and defamation, responding to reporters' questions.

Former Blue House Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Kang Ki-jung denied on the 13th any allegations of involvement in the Lime Asset Management scandal, asserting that there was neither bribery nor improper solicitation.

Kim Bong-hyun, former chairman of Star Mobility and a key figure in the Lime scandal which caused damages estimated at around 1.6 trillion won, recently testified in court that "I understand that 50 million won was delivered to former Senior Secretary Kang through Lee Kang-se, CEO of Star Mobility," causing the controversy to spread.

On the same day, Senior Secretary Kang appeared on CBS Radio and said, "I met CEO Lee for about 20 minutes at the Blue House on July 28, 2019," but denied ever receiving any money. He added, "There are bag inspections and X-ray screenings upon entry, so it is impossible to bring in 50 million won."

Former Senior Secretary Kang further explained, "Other than the day I met at the Blue House, I never contacted CEO Lee," and added, "If we had met outside the office, I would have been truly shocked."

Kang also said, "I did not even know what kind of work CEO Lee was involved in," explaining, "He told me there was a problem with the company he was investing in, so I advised him to undergo an investigation by the financial supervisory authorities, and that was the end of it."

Regarding Kim’s testimony that "former Senior Secretary Kang called Policy Chief Kim Sang-jo," Kang called it a "blatant lie." He said, "Making such a call would violate the Kim Young-ran Act," and argued, "If such a solicitation had been made, why wouldn’t there be any evidence?"

On the background of Kim’s testimony, Kang said, "It seems they have succeeded in muddying the financial fraud case and turning it into a power-related gate scandal," adding, "I also spoke with People Power Party floor leader Joo Ho-young yesterday, and the opposition party has succeeded in using this case to attack the Blue House."

Meanwhile, Kim appeared as a witness at the trial of CEO Lee held on the 8th at the Seoul Southern District Court Criminal Division 11 (Presiding Judge Lee Hwan-seung), testifying that "I gave CEO Lee 50 million won on July 27, 2019."

He stated, "I received a call from CEO Lee saying, 'I am going into the Blue House, but I need funds,' and I handed over 50 million won in 50,000-won bills in a shopping bag at a coffee shop in a certain hotel."

Kim continued, "Later, I heard that CEO Lee had greeted (former Senior Secretary Kang), so I thought the money had been delivered," and added, "I also heard that the senior secretary called Policy Chief Kim Sang-jo directly and spoke strongly in an angry manner."

Kim’s testimony partially aligns with the prosecution’s charges. When the prosecution indicted CEO Lee in July on charges including violation of the Attorney-at-Law Act, they stated in the indictment, "He met with a Blue House senior secretary and received a shopping bag containing 50 million won in cash from Kim Bong-hyun to cover up the Financial Supervisory Service’s audit of Lime."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.