The youngest son of South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung denied corruption charges on Friday when he appeared in court at the start of his trial.
Kim Hong-Gul (38) is accused of receiving cash and shares worth 3,7-billion won ($3,1-million) as bribes from businessmen in return for influence peddling.
A second son of the president is also awaiting trial for corruption.
The most serious charge against Hong-Gul concerns money taken from Tiger Pools International (TPI) which won a government licence last year to run a lucrative sports lottery.
Hong-Gul admitted that he had received 66 000 stock options from TPI and 48 000 more shares from TPI’s subsidiary companies but denied it was a bribe.
”I never used influence in the process of selecting the winner of the bid,” Hong-Gul told the court.
Charged alongside the president’s son were Choi Kyu-Sun, a former aide to President Kim, and former Vice Mayor of Seoul Kim Hee-Wan.
”I conveyed TPI president Song Jae-Bin’s request to Mr Kim Hong-Gul that his company receive fair consideration along with other bidders in the selection process,” Choi told the trial.
”But I don’t think TPI won the business licence thanks to Hong-Gul, because the TPI president made the same request to several other people,” Choi said.
Hong-Gul was detained on June 5 on charges of accepting a total of 3,7-billion won between April 2000 and July 2001 from TPI and other companies seeking for business favours.
Of the 3,7-billion won, prosecutors determined that 1,59-billion won was given as bribes.
Hong-Gul could be jailed for up to five years if found guilty in court. The trial is expected to last about two months.
President Kim’s second son, Kim Hong-Up, was arrested last week on charges of taking 2,28-billion won ($1,9-million) from businesses.
Kim Dae-Jung, who took office in early 1998 on a pledge to fight graft, apologised to the nation last week for the conduct of his sons. – Sapa-AFP