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November 27, 2009
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| Albany, NEW YORK - The former head of tax who stepped down from his post and left Korea amidst a series of corruption and bribery allegations pleaded his innocence to media on Wednesday (U.S. time), saying he will return home to restore his honor when the appropriate time comes. “I am facing endless lies,” said Han Sang-yool, who stepped down from as National Tax Service commissioner in January amid allegations that he got the top tax job after bribing his predecessor with an expensive painting. The interview with Korean reporters took place at his research office at the Department of Public Administration and Policy at the State University of New York in Albany. The media event was a rare opportunity to listen to Han’s side of the story. He left Korea in March. “When the appropriate time comes, I will explain everything about the accusations. I will also file defamation suits,” he said. “But for the time being, I have no immediate plan to return to Korea.” Ahn Won-koo, a senior tax official, recently claimed that Han had pressured him to come up with 300 million won ($260,400) at the end of 2007 because Han needed a total of 1 billion won to lobby higher authorities to buy his way up. Ahn said he was disadvantaged in a promotion exercise because he turned down the request. Han flatly rejected Ahn’s accusation. “The National Tax Service head is a position appointed by the president. It’s not something you buy,” Han said. “It’s true that I demoted Ahn twice. But there were sufficient reasons. I think he probably has a grudge against me for that.” Han also denied Ahn’s accusation that he telephoned the Blue House to report about the progress of a tax probe into Taekwang Industrial. The probe later triggered the prosecution’s investigation into Park Yeon-cha, a close patron of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun. “I was trained thoroughly for confidentiality,” said Han, regarding Ahn’s claim that he witnessed Han informing the Blue House about the probe. “It’s absurd that I made a report to the presidential office while someone was in the room.” He also denied that he directed the Taekwang probe. “The probe began because we found some leads while investigating Park’s slush funds in Hong Kong,” Han said. “As the tax service head, I could not ignore the reports made by junior investigators. I could not have discouraged the probe by saying that the case against Taekwang is political when the tips were legitimate.” Han also said he did not bribe his predecessor with an expensive painting to buy his way up. “The prosecution’s investigation will clear my honor. I am wrongfully accused,” he said. By Chung Kyung-min, Ser Myo-ja [myoja@joongang.co.kr] JoongAng daily Hot issue
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