By Here is some great news, that the man behind the SSRT corruption scandal has been arrested in Dallas:
The businessman convicted earlier this year in a South Korean court of bribing AAFES officials so his company could hold a lucrative Internet contract on military bases has been arrested in the United States on federal bribery conspiracy charges, Stars and Stripes has learned.
Jeong Gi-hwan, 44, was arrested in Dallas by federal agents Wednesday and is being held without bond for his alleged role in a bribery conspiracy, federal authorities told Stars and Stripes on Saturday.
The alleged conspiracy involves his telecommunications company, Samsung Rental Corp. Ltd., also known as SSRT, and former Army and Air Force Exchange Service officials.
Among the former AAFES officials Jeong is accused of bribing is H. Lee Holloway, a Justice Department official told Stars and Stripes.
Holloway was AAFES general manager at Osan Air Base in South Korea from June 2000 through August 2005.
A former SSRT executive who spoke on condition of anonymity said Jeong, a South Korean citizen and resident of Seoul, had traveled to Dallas for a meeting with AAFES officials.
Agents arrested Jeong on a criminal complaint that charges him with bribery; conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to commit wire fraud; and conspiracy to commit bribery.
Federal authorities accuse Jeong of paying bribes to AAFES employees, who are considered U.S. government employees, to assist SSRT in a $206 million contract to provide home Internet and phone service to U.S. military installations in South Korea.
Authorities also contend that Holloway moved to terminate SSRT’s contract on grounds of poor performance, but then supported the contract after allegedly receiving payments from Jeong. [Stars & Stripes]
This case disgusts me because these guys involved in it were directly screwing servicemembers out of their money with the crap Internet service they were providing. What will be interesting to see is how Jeong can be tried in a US court for a crime committed in Korea which he has already been convicted of. The conviction was of course a joke of a $10,000 fine after receiving $206 million dollar contract. I assume this joke sentence is probably why the US feds are going after Jeong now.
The person I would like to see the feds go after is the person who was bribed Lee Holloway. Jeong was just doing accepted practice in Korea, bribing people, however Holloway had the responsibility to award a contract that was in the best interest of USFK servicemembers and he chose to screw over the soldiers instead. Reports that have come out about Holloway is simply that he was fired last year by AAFES. Big deal, he should be getting arrested by the feds right next to Jeong.
Something else I find interesting is that according to the Stars & Stripes article is that the SSRT contract was transferred over to LG Dacom. I went and checked out the LG Dacom webpage and guess who hosts the webpage? SSRT! If you look at the site URL you can see the site is hosted by SSRT. This just makes me wonder if LG Dacom is just a front company for the old SSRT ownership? This could be similar to when a club in the ville gets put off limits and the owner has his cousin come and take ownership of the bar and change its name and it is put back on limits again with the same people running it.
10:30 am on November 24th, 2008 1
The same woman working for SSRT who inprocessed me was the same one who outprocessed me under th LG Dacom label.
The same shady guards from Group4Falck were still guarding gates when it changed over to Joeun Systems.
Often when juicy girls transfer to a different bar, they magically change their name in the process.
I think name-changing is so common in Korea that the whole off-limits list comedy was just a natural manifestation of that and should have been realized if the people who made the first off-limits lists actually left their command-sponsored lives to get into the trenches and know how Koreans operate.
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5:54 pm on November 24th, 2008 2
This story left open several questions, but suggests a few answers.
I know the visa waiver system is in effect now but there is a minor vetting process. Visitors must still submit some basic information online and receive an acceptance notice to be allowed to enter. It seems that at the same time Mr. Jeong was approved to enter the USA, preparations were being made for his arrival.
There’s probably been a threshold of disgust that’s been reached somewhere that these guys have been allowed to screw our government and citizens over too often and only receive slaps on the wrist here in Korea.
You have to ask, what possible reason could AAFES Headquarters have wanted to meet with this man? Then there is the obvious question of why Mr. Holloway is still walking around free?
My guess is that Holloway is cooperating, naming names, and making arrangements. We might see more of these type stings of Korean wheeler dealers as they are lured out of their ROK safe havens in the future.
While they’re at it, I would like to see them start charging and targeting some of the most egregious international human traffickers who are still allowed to lord around over here.
You know those police sweep operations where they invite hundreds of scofflaws to a warehouse to present them with a gift prize?
Welcome to America. Your reward awaits.
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February 13th, 2010 at 7:44 am
Nothing surprises me about aafes – they engage in 10 year no bid contracts and manage to get away with it. If you thought the Holloway case was bad, then just wait to see history repeat itself when someone decides to blow the whitle on AWN (american Warrior network)one of their affiliates.
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6:41 pm on November 24th, 2008 3
I bet Jeogn is still trying to figure out how he is in Jail W/O bond. But I agree, he was doing business the way a lot business is done in Korea. It is the AAFES employees who should bear the brunt of the punishment.
They may have him in Jail to get him to roll over and name names of others who may be involved in the bribes, or get him to agree to testify against Holloway.
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9:20 pm on November 24th, 2008 4
How did this happen, anyway?
Isn’t there someone on the military side in charge of protecting the interests of the armed forces and its members?
It would seem, especially in these high-dollar contracts in places well known for corrupt business practices, there would be some sort of oversight; especially after a long period with numerous valid complaints.
As I recall, Holloway oversaw a number of high-dollar construction projects at Osan. It makes you wonder if his current freedom is based on more than just knowledge of SSRT corruption.
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6:30 am on November 25th, 2008 5
Anyway, I’m contributing this over the crappy LG DACOM internet connection in my government quarters. I had a super-nice, super-fast, super-cheap Korea Telecom MEGAPASS connection when I lived off-post. Now I am forced into getting a slower internet connection for $20 more per month since I moved on-post. We also had a dirt-cheap KT phone line, but LG DACOM has an exclusive contract on phone service, also. They tried to pin us with an over-priced VOIP service, but we settled for a $10/month service that uses a traditional phone jacked into my LG DACOM cable modem. The VOIP plan is geared for people who call the US all of the time. I only do that a couple times a year, so what the f*** do I need it for?
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6:52 am on November 25th, 2008 6
SSRT used to be the lead contractor, but all they did was the customer service. They subcontracted the technical work to LG Dacom.
When SSRT went down, LG Dacom won the contract. They promptly subcontracted their customer service work out to SSRT.
Meanwhile, Internet service remains lousy (according to a former executive) because as a monopoly, LG Dacom has no incentive to upgrade the infrastructure, which is inferior to what most get off-post.
And the gravy train keeps rolling.
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12:44 am on November 26th, 2008 7
[...] SSRT official arrested at the Dallas airport this week for his involvement in a AAFES corruption scandal claims that the accusations against him are all [...]
7:32 am on December 4th, 2008 8
[...] I was wondering about the continuing connection between the current AAFES Internet contractor LG Dacom and the disgraced SSRT and it appears someone at USFK and AAFES has finally noticed too: [...]
11:49 pm on December 9th, 2008 9
[...] In a country known as the World’s Most Wired Country, it is an absolute disgrace that AAFES cannot provide adequate Internet service to USFK servicemembers due to corruption and incompetence: [...]
4:34 pm on April 23rd, 2009 10
Ex-AAFES official pleads guilty to bribes
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