Scandal-tainted university president found dead

A former agriculture minister under a probe on suspicions of bribery and his alleged involvement in an unfolding savings bank scandal was found dead in his car in an apparent suicide on Monday, police said. Im Sang-gyu, president of Sunchon National University, is presumed to have killed himself by inhaling toxic fumes from burning coal briquettes inside the car parked at his family grave site in this southwestern city, 415 kilometers south of Seoul, police said. He left a suicide note saying, "The result of having wrong relationships is too horrible ... but there was no monetary transaction" in an apparent denial of his bribery charge, the police said. The police said his mental stress from being questioned about two different high-profile corruption scandals could be the cause of the apparent suicide. The 62-year-old Im had served as agriculture minister and in key government posts at the Prime Minister's Office and the predecessors of the finance ministry and the science ministry before taking over as the university's chief last July. He was recently placed under an overseas travel ban on suspicion of receiving 20 million won (US$18,527) in kickbacks from businessman Yoo Sang-bong, who was arrested for brokering a number of contracts to operate lucrative makeshift cafeterias at construction sites. Yoo was charged with bribing ranking officials of construction firms and police in the process. Prosecutors also found that a total of 150 million won from Yoo's bank account was funneled into accounts opened by Im's brother, who is a contractor, on two occasions in 2005 and 2007. Prosecutors were reportedly trying to determine whether the money was given in return for helping Yoo broker a cafeteria contract in North Gyeongsang Province last year. Im, however, had denied the suspicions. The travel ban was imposed the same day when Im was questioned by prosecutors over allegations that some employees at Busan Savings Bank tipped off their relatives and VIP customers about its impending business suspension in February so as to help them withdraw their deposits in advance. Im, who has a relation by marriage with Park Yeon-ho, chairman of the bank, allegedly withdrew his deposit from the bank in late January, nine months before the account matured. Park was prosecuted for committing financial wrongdoings involving around 7 trillion won, along with other executives and large shareholders of the bank.