Ahn Cheol-soo: "If They Try to Cover Up Lime and Optimus Scandals, Special Prosecutor Is Needed"

"President Moon Should Be Ashamed to Mention Names of Ruling Party Figures"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, stated on the 13th regarding the Lime and Optimus incidents, “The ruling party’s attempt to downplay the Lime and Optimus incidents as mere fund redemption suspension cases is a serious crime combining the greed of financial fraudsters, the incompetence and neglect of supervisory agencies, and the protection and involvement of power.” He added, “In short, it is a ‘politics (jeong) - supervisory agency (gam) - fraudster (sa)’ triangular alliance of greed, a power-type financial fraud.”

On the same day on Facebook, Ahn said, “If the regime tries to cover up power-type financial fraud, it must be uncovered by a special prosecutor (special investigation).”

Ahn pointed out, “One of the key figures in the Lime incident, the CEO of Star Mobility, is a former journalist close to the power elite. The fact that a pro-government journalist with little experience in corporate management was appointed as CEO clearly shows, in crude terms, what they trusted to carry out such acts.” He continued, “With such a strong backing, even though the consulate general knew that a suspect involved in the Lime case was detained in Macau, the fact that he escaped as if in a movie cannot help but raise suspicion.”

Ahn said, “Their actions were far from normal management. Although they claimed to invest in highly stable public institution sales bonds, from the beginning they invested in loan companies and insolvent firms.” He criticized, “Just from this, isn’t it clear that they intended to commit fraud from the start?”

Ahn questioned, “What were the supervisory agencies doing during this time? The agencies responsible for detecting and punishing problems were found to have even given consulting-level advice to the group of fraudsters.” He added, “It is no different from the police informing suspects of escape routes.”

Ahn continued, “What happened after the criminal charges surfaced? The Lime issue occurred in July last year, but decisive testimonies are only coming out now, after one year and three months. Meanwhile, Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae abolished the Securities Crime Joint Investigation Team of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office.” He explained, “The case was assigned to a general investigation department, not the anti-corruption investigation department. They abolished the entire department dedicated to organized crime and excluded even competent experts from the investigation.”

Ahn said, “Why did this happen? Simply put, because they didn’t want to investigate. They knew what would come out and were not confident in handling the repercussions.” He added, “With the Prosecutor General’s hands and feet cut off, and prosecutors who only look to power monopolizing key positions, the prosecution now can only remain silent on power-type corruption cases involving names of ruling party officials. That’s why the main perpetrator of the Optimus fraud, who whispered with the president, accompanied the president on overseas trips, is now openly walking around the United States.”

Ahn emphasized, “Was it really just simple fraud and bribery? Like the Blue House administrative officer who held shares under a false name, we must thoroughly investigate which other ruling party figures hid their identities and actively participated in this ugly evil force.” He added, “Those who vehemently claim they never received a single won must be thoroughly investigated to see if they are truly clean. Based on past experience, most of those who denied involvement after the fact were the main culprits or accomplices of the theft.”

Ahn concluded, “President Moon Jae-in must be outraged. He should be angry about the fraud crimes that caused countless citizens to shed tears of blood and ashamed that names of ruling party officials are being mentioned.” He urged, “Order the Minister of Justice to exercise command rights and direct a thorough investigation. Only then will there be no suspicion.”

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