[President Roh Tae-woo] received 2.5 billion won [$32.6 million] in nine
installments”—more than three times the chairman’s claim of $10.5
million.
On January 29, 1996, with an entourage of lawyers and assistants,
Chairman Lee showed up at the courthouse. A deluge of reporters and
cameras followed him, shouting questions.
Inside, the accused businessmen and the state officials who were
accused of receiving funds were seated before the judge.
“Why did you give the president such a large sum of money?” the
prosecutor asked Chairman Lee during his testimony.
He answered, “We customarily gave such money since the days of the
Third Republic [the name of the dictatorship of Park Chung-hee from 1963
to 1972]. Generally, we called them political funds. Following precedent,
we paid political funds once or twice a year to the Blue House. For business
owners like us, we came to think of this as obvious and a kind of custom.”
The prosecutor replied, “Can you just hand over that kind of money
without any kind of interest relationship? Was there not an implied request
for favors in Samsung’s pursuit of the commercial vehicle business?”
“The purpose was that the company not be harassed by political power
or sustain unfair losses [of government intervention]....Samsung has been
the biggest victim [of such power abuse] since the Third Republic. We’ve
come to think of these things as a kind of tax.”
It was time for the judge to ask Chairman Lee some questions.
“Why launder the money when giving it?”
“If the money isn’t laundered it isn’t accepted, so it is for mutual
convenience.”
“From [an average citizen’s] perspective, it’s a tremendous sum of
money. Did you hand it over without so much as a receipt?”
“In the Third Republic, when the Blue House [the President’s house]
called, it meant they would ask for money. In the Fifth Republic, they gave
a receipt. In the Sixth Republic, it was done with tacit understanding.”
When it came time for the defendants to respond, one lawyer signed off
with an unusual defense.
“The only reason this trial is happening is because [President] Kim
Young-sam refused to take political funds. If that were not the case, this
trial would not have even opened.”