The frontrunner in South Korea's presidential race, Lee Myung-bak, said yesterday he has nothing to fear from a fraud probe and urged voters on the eve of election day to let him revitalize the nation.
With one rival branding him a "peerless liar," Lee used the final day of a campaign dominated by the complex six-year-old stock manipulation scandal to promise top-to-bottom change if elected.
"A new era will begin," he said. "Tomorrow the election will be over and if I am picked, everything will change drastically."
"Businesses will no longer be reluctant to invest. Consumers will open their purses. Markets will be vitalized. Foreign investors will rush here," he said.
Most analysts believe Lee, the pro-business candidate of the conservative opposition Grand National Party, will win today's poll amid disenchantment over a decade of liberal rule.
However, any victory for him would usher in weeks of political uncertainty as the independent investigation -- authorized on Monday by parliament -- goes ahead.
State prosecutors had on Dec. 5 cleared Lee of involvement in the case linked to the now-defunct BBK investment firm.
He had always said he had nothing to do with the firm, but his opponents on Sunday publicized a video clip of a speech Lee made in 2000, in which he says he founded BBK.
It led to parliament voting on Monday to appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate claims Lee was involved in the 2001 fraud along with his business partner at the time.
Newspapers predicted the inquiry would report before a new president takes office on Feb. 25, raising the prospect of a president-elect being placed under investigation or even indicted.
Lee has said he made erroneous comments on the video because he was trying to promote new financial business at the time.
He reiterated denials of any wrongdoing, asserting yesterday that any inquiry "will not take that long. Tens or even hundreds of special investigations would never change the results because there is only one truth."
"The transfer of power will proceed as scheduled without any agitation," he promised.
Many voters regard Lee, a 65-year-old former construction executive and a former mayor of Seoul, as best suited to reinvigorate the economy after years of relatively modest growth.
Lee had been almost 30 points ahead of his closest rival in opinion polls released last week.
It was unclear how many voters would overlook his alleged ethical lapses in their eagerness for someone to ease high youth unemployment, stimulate growth and bring down high property prices.
"Dear fellow citizens, please make me president with support of more than a majority," he told a press conference. "Dear fellow citizens, please back me up. Let me revive the economy."
After he spoke yesterday, hundreds of supporters packed a street in Seoul's Sinchon District to welcome the man whose slogan is "Economy first!"
"Lee Myung-bak!" they chanted, flashing victory signs.
But Chung Dong-young, of the liberal pro-government United New Democratic Party, who came a distant second in the last permitted opinion polls, kept up the attack.
"I am worried that this country may fall into disgrace by electing a peerless liar as its leader," he told reporters, saying support for Lee had nose-dived since the video emerged.
The inquiry will probe whether Lee was involved in stock manipulation, embezzlement and money-laundering through BBK or other firms, as well as allegations that he covered up property speculation.
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