South Korea’s most powerful businessmen were summoned by the prosecution over the weekend to answer questions about their alleged closed-door meetings with President Park Geun-hye last year.

The move comes amid deepening suspicions over their dubious ties with the nation’s troubled leader, who is at the centre of an influence-peddling scandal involving her longtime friend.

A special investigation team at the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office said it had questioned Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo and CJ Group co-Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho were also summoned even though they were not on the list of tycoons said to have had one-on-one meetings with Park.

On Saturday, the prosecution summoned Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo, Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn and Kim Chang-geun, chairman of SK Supex Council, who was said to have met Park instead of Chey.

The summonses were carried out unofficially, an official at the team said. The tycoons were all summoned as witnesses, the official added.

The questioning came after the prosecution obtained a Cheong Wa Dae document on Park’s schedule, which stated that she met the seven business leaders one-on-one on July 25 last year.

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2016-11-06 10:08:13

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Tens of thousands of South Koreans stage protest in Seoul calling for President Park Geun Hye to resign

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The business leaders were to be asked whether the president demanded them to provide funds for the operations of two controversial foundations led by her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil. The focus of the investigation was to find out whether Park was involved with the foundations, but it can be shifted also to the businesses if their donations were made in exchange for business favors, according to legal sources.

Officials at the companies declined to comment, saying they were not told of an exact timeline of the tycoons entering the prosecutors’ office.

Hanjin Group Cho Yang-ho was also summoned despite his denial of meeting Park. He was questioned on a separate issue — whether he was pressured to step down from the chairman post of the PyeongChang Olympics Committee by a former vice culture minister, allegedly a close associate of Choi.

The seven conglomerates made massive donations to the Mir and K-Sports foundations. Samsung Group, through a number of its affiliates, offered a combined 20.4 billion won ($17.5 million), while Hyundai Motor Group donated 12.8 billion won. SK Group gave 11.1 billion won while Hanwha offered 2.5 billion won, according to the reports.

A report by a local corporate tracker, chaebul.com, showed that the seven companies spent more on nonoperating expenses last year than in the previous year.

Nonoperating costs reported by 75 listed companies under the seven conglomerates surged 16.2 per cent to 27.2 trillion won last year in contrast to a 0.3 per cent increase in their operating expenses. Non-operating expenses refer to money spent on things including donations, interest payments and losses in invested assets.

In a separate probe, the prosecution summoned Posco Chairman Kwon Oh-joon on Friday evening over suspicions surrounding the alleged involvement of Choi’s associates in the company’s 2014 sale of an in-house ad agency, Poreka.

Suspicions have been growing that a former senior presidential secretary tried to intimidate a local ad company into purchasing Poreka and handing over 80 per cent of its shares to a third party associated with Cha Eun-taek, a close associate of Choi. Kwon who finalized the sale of Poreka, is being questioned on whether he was aware of such a scheme.

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The ‘female Rasputin’ at centre of S Korean President Park Geun-Hye political scandal

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Samsung Electronics President Park Sang-jin, who is in charge of the tech giant’s external affairs, was also questioned for 19 hours over his involvement in suspicious donations to Choi’s daughter Chung Yoo-ra.

Reports emerged that Samsung gave 2.8 million euros ($3.04 million) to a company called Widec Sports owned by Choi and her daughter, a former member of the national equestrian team.

Samsung Electronics is the main sponsor of the Korea Equestrian Federation, while Park serves as the chairman of the organisation.

Before summoning Park, the prosecution raided Samsung’s head office in southern Seoul last week.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)

A RM43 billion (S$14 billion) harbour being developed in Malacca aims to overtake Singapore as the largest port in the region, but questions are being raised about the need for the added capacity and whether China’s eager participation has to do with good business or its crucial strategic interests in the Malacca Strait.

For China, not only does most of its trade pass through the Malacca Strait, but so does up to 80 per cent of its energy needs. This prompted then President Hu Jintao to make the “Malacca Dilemma” a key strategic issue as far back as 2003.

“There is the strategic element of the Malacca Strait. It always starts with an economic presence, which can develop into a naval one, because China will be obliged to ensure the safe passage of its commercial ships,” said Dr Johan Saravanamuttu of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, who studies the Malaysia-China relationship.

The Melaka Gateway joint venture is part of a wider port alliance between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing to increase bilateral trade and boost shipping and logistics along China’s much-vaunted Maritime Silk Road.

Chinese firm Guangxi Beibu International Port Group already owns 40 per cent of Kuantan port, which faces the disputed waters of the South China Sea, and 49 per cent of the Kuantan Industrial Park in Pahang, the home state of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The Malaysian authorities are talking up the game-changing Melaka Gateway deal between little-known KAJ Developments and energy giant PowerChina International, which will form a joint venture and spend RM30 billion to reclaim three islands off Malacca’s coast. The entire Gateway development will be completed in 2025 but the deep-sea port is expected to be ready by 2019. The Malaysian government hopes to attract the bulk of 100,000 vessels, most of them Chinese, that ply the Malacca Strait annually.

Some industry players have expressed concern about the cannibalising of existing ports along the strait, especially in the light of Singapore’s own port expansion.

Though the Malaysian government has said a new port is needed because Klang, the country’s most important port, will be full by 2020, studies appear to show otherwise.

A World Bank study commissioned by the government last year showed a new port on Malaysia’s west coast is not necessary, as existing facilities have yet to reach capacity, according to sources. Both operators at Port Klang – Westports and MMC – have also made expansion proposals that would double the port’s capacity, the sources added.

“Because there seems to be no logic to the Melaka deal, many are questioning if this has more to do with military rather than commercial interests,” a logistics player told The Straits Times.

Sources also said the reclaimed islands would be given freehold status and the port granted a 99-year concession – both rare and generous terms. Melaka Gateway did not respond to a request for comment.

China’s military presence around Malaysian waters has increased significantly since last year. In September last year, all three branches of the Chinese armed forces took part in a six-day joint exercise on “disaster relief” in the Malacca Strait.

China has also gained access to Kota Kinabalu, a crucial dock in Sabah close to the disputed Spratly Islands, where Beijing’s construction activities have been a source of diplomatic strife in the region.

A former port authority chief noted that China has made moves to reduce its reliance on the Malacca Strait, such as via port-and-rail or pipeline projects in Pakistan, Myanmar and Eastern Europe, which means “we cannot take Beijing’s commitment here for granted”.

“If China pulls out her support, the port becomes useless because it has no hinterland, unlike Klang and Penang which serve a big local market. In fact, many businesses prefer to send their goods to Klang by road instead of the existing Malacca or Penang ports because it is more efficient.”

Critics have questioned Malay- sia’s over-reliance on China, in the light of the huge deals struck during Datuk Seri Najib’s recent visit to Beijing, as well as a whopping RM55 billion loan to build a railway that will eventually link Port Klang on the west and Kuantan port in Pahang and also Terengganu and Kelantan.

“There is the question of over-dependence, and the diplomatic leverage involved if Beijing were to move in more aggressively. So far, Najib is still hedging, but when it comes to investments, you can’t expect as much from America as you can from China. If you want to go up against Singapore, then this port makes sense, especially when it is in the form of foreign investment, given Malaysia’s fiscal constraints,” said Dr Saravanamuttu.

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai batted away these concerns on his return from Beijing, telling reporters that “with the economy growing, we need more ports”. He said: “The port alliance… has seen results, bringing more competitiveness to our ports and logistic sectors.”

This article was first published on Nov 14, 2016.
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JAKARTA – A toddler died Monday after being injured in a Molotov cocktail attack on an Indonesian church, police said, the latest assault on a religious minority in the Muslim-majority country.

Two-year-old Intan Olivia Marbun was among four small children hurt when an attacker wearing a t-shirt with the word “jihad” on it threw explosives at the church on Borneo island Sunday from a motorbike.

The youngsters, aged between two and four, had been playing in the car park of the church in the city of Samarinda at the time of the attack.

Local police spokesman Fajar Setiawan told AFP that Marbun suffered severe burn injuries, adding: “Unfortunately the doctors could not save the victim… she died early this morning.” The other children suffered less serious injuries and were still being treated in hospital, said the spokesman.

“We hope they can come home soon,” said Setiawan.

Police have arrested the suspected attacker, a 32-year-old man who was previously jailed over his involvement in a parcel bomb plot in 2011 targeting figures including a moderate Muslim cleric and the counter-terror chief.

Indonesia has the world’s biggest Muslim population, but most practise a moderate form of Islam and the country is also home to substantial populations of Christians, Buddhists and Hindus.

However there has been an increasing number of attacks on religious minorities in recent years by Muslim hardliners.

Sunday’s attack was the latest on a church in recent months. In August, an Indonesian teenager who was obsessed with the Islamic State (IS) group stabbed a priest in a church and tried to detonate a homemade bomb.

The rise of IS has also fanned the flames of extremism in a country that has long struggled with militancy, with hundreds of Indonesians heading to fight with the jihadists in the Middle East.

A suicide bombing and gun attack in the Indonesian capital Jakarta in January, claimed by IS, killed four attackers and four civilians.