Posted on 05/12/2006 6:56:19 AM PDT by Ebenezer
Disgraced cloning expert Hwang Woo-suk has been indicted on charges of fraud, embezzlement and breach of a bioethics law in the stem cell fabrication scandal, the prosecution announced yesterday.
Concluding a five-month-long investigation, prosecutors confirmed that the former Seoul National University veterinary professor fabricated data for his now discredited research papers that originally claimed to have cloned human stem cells and developed patient-specific stem cell lines.
However, it appears that Hwang was also deceived by one of his researchers, Kim Sun-jong, who smuggled invitro-fertilized stem cells from a fertility clinic into the lab to make it look like he had succeeded in cultivating the patient-specific stem cells, the authority added.
Kim also faces criminal charges of obstruction of justice and destruction of evidence
"Dr. Hwang was charged with fraud, embezzlement and bioethics law violations. And five others were also indicted on various charges related to the fraudulent cloning work and the disappearance of research funds," said senior prosecutor Lee In-kyu during a nationally televised press conference yesterday.
Three of Hwang's key associates, SNU professors Lee Byung-chun and Kang Sung-keun, and Hanyang University professor Yoon Hyun-soo, are charged with fraud while Chang Sang-sik, president of Hanna Women's Clinic, is charged with violations of a bioethics law.
None of the six indicted are under physical detention.
Apart from the fraud charge related to his stem cell research, the prosecution also accused Hwang of embezzling 2.8 billion won worth of funds provided by state and private organizations and violating the bioethics law by buying eggs for use in his research.
Hwang used part of the money for private purposes and the rest to purchase ova, make political donations to politicians, and pay-off executives from large conglomerates that provided funds for his research.
"Using a total of 63 bank accounts under the name of his relatives and his subordinate researchers, he managed the research funds in a very untransparent way," Lee said.
Hwang's attorney, Moon Hyung-sik, said he will fight the accusations in court, Yonhap News reported.
In January, Seoul National University said that Hwang's research team had not created the world's first cloned human embryos nor extracted stem cells from them as they had claimed. The university later fired him.
Democrat Gubernatorial candidate and Venture Capitalist Chris Gabrieli wants to throw $1 BILLION of tax payers money at this empty promise of science. Here's a question for Chris, instead of putting $1.2 million of your own money into your campaign, why didn't you invest it in Embryonic Stem Cell research?
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