S. Korea auditors want diplomat fired in mine scandal

SEOUL (AFP) - South Korean state auditors on Thursday recommended the sacking of a senior diplomat over his role in alleged share-rigging linked to a diamond mine in Cameroon.

The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) said the foreign ministry would be asked to fire Kim Eun-Seok, ambassador in charge of energy and resources development.

It also called for a criminal probe by prosecutors into the scandal which surfaced last month when Kim was suspended temporarily from his work.

The foreign ministry said it would take disciplinary measures against Kim.

BAI has probed a ministry statement in December 2010 that Cameroon had authorised Seoul-based CNK International to develop a large diamond mine in the African country.

The ministry has said the volume of diamonds in the mine near the southeastern town of Yakadouma was estimated at 420 million carats, a whopping 2.5 times the global diamond production in 2007.

The statement sent shares of the developer rising dramatically. But legislator Jeong Tae-Keun told a parliamentary committee last September that the estimated volume of the diamonds had been greatly exaggerated.

BAI said Kim had played a key role in issuing the statement, although he knew the potential value of the mine was exaggerated.

Kim was also found to have encouraged his brothers and associates to buy CNK shares before the statement was issued, it said.

The BAI announcement came hours after prosecutors raided CNK's head office in Seoul and the homes of its top executives to secure evidence of stock manipulation.

A CNK spokesman has denied that the company manipulated share prices. Kim has proclaimed his innocence of any wrongdoing in media interviews.