Man Cleared of Campaign Fund Charges
Hyundai controller Paul Koh was found not guilty Thursday of conspiring to illegally contribute corporate money to the 1992 election campaign of Rep. Jay C. Kim (R-Diamond Bar).
Immediately after he was acquitted of charges that could have put him in federal prison for 10 years, Koh let out a loud moan of relief and hugged his attorneys, Jerome Roth and Bart Williams. His wife, Angie, was removed sobbing from the downtown courtroom at the request of U.S. Court Judge Richard A. Paez.
“I just want to thank God,” an emotional Koh said as he left the courtroom.
Koh was acquitted of conspiring to defraud the United States government by taking part in a plan to funnel $4,500 of Hyundai Motor America money into Kim’s campaign treasury. He was also acquitted of causing the making of a false statement.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Edward B. Moreton Jr. could not be reached for comment.
Jury foreman George Potter, a retired college president, said the government simply didn’t prove its case. “After hearing the jury instructions from the judge, we felt there was not enough hard evidence to convict,” Potter said.
Other jurors agreed, saying they were unwilling to make Koh the fall guy for the scheme to help finance Kim’s election bid. “I didn’t think it was fair he was the only one charged,” said juror Monica Marroquin.
Koh said he was puzzled as to why he was the only one of five employees implicated in the scheme who was brought to trial.
Hyundai has already pleaded guilty to making illegal contributions and paid a $600,000 fine.
Koh’s superiors, including former Company President D.O. Chung and Executive Vice President Mark Juhn, both of whom had been granted immunity from prosecution, testified during the trial that Koh had nothing to do with formulating the plan.
On the stand Tuesday, Chung, now in charge of a new Hyundai plant in Korea, bristled at the suggestion that he would discuss the plan with Koh, someone he said he considered too low in the Hyundai corporate hierarchy to be consulted. “There was no reason at all for me to talk with Paul Koh,” Chung testified.
Chung said he had believed the plan to contribute to Kim’s campaign was not illegal but was developed to slip through what he thought was a loophole in the law that prohibits corporations from contributing to federal elections. The scheme called for five Hyundai employees--including Koh--who had been issued company checks totaling $4,500 to in turn write personal checks in the same amount to the Kim campaign.
Koh also faced a charge of causing the making of a false statement because his $1,000 check led the Kim campaign treasurer to falsely report the source of the funds to the Federal Election Committee.
