KimYong-cheol
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Samsung's slush fund valued at $216 million, says former legal executive
We're not sure what Samsung did to invite the wrath of Kim Yong-chul, nevertheless, the former Samsung legal executive is blowing his whistle... again. In a national news conference televised in South Korea this morning, Kim stated that "Samsung has created a large-scale slush fund" valued at some 200 billion won (about $216 million). According to Kim, the fund was used to routinely bribe prosecutors and politicians in hopes of making the investigations into Samsung's improprieties go away. Last week, South Korea's parliament voted to allow an independent counsel to investigate the Samsung group in addition to improper payments -- including a congratulatory election victory "gift" -- made to South Korea's residing president, Roh Moo-hyun. Roh, who denies the allegations, is considering vetoing the bill according to a statement made by his office. Unlike typical boasts of Samsung world's firsts, this certainly isn't the first case of a corporate slush fund. However, with Samsung controlling nearly 20% of South Korea's GDP, it has legs to become the world's most notorious case of political-industrial corruption in recent years.
