Cloning 'pioneer' donated research funds to politicians

Disgraced cloning expert Woo-Suk Hwang has admitted making donations to politicians using funds donated for his research, said South Korean state auditors on Monday.

They said that the information would be passed on to prosecutors who are already probing Hwang for possible fraud in connection with his research funding.

The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) said in a report that Hwang had failed to account for 6.2 billion won ($6.4 million) in donations for his research _ one billion won in state funds and 5.2 billion won in private donations.

"Hwang said he had donated part of the fund in cash to politicians but he said he could not remember exactly to whom and how much he gave," senior BAI official Eui-Myong Park told a press conference.

Hwang became a national hero in South Korea after he claimed to have cloned the first human stem cell line in 2004, and stunned medical experts in 2005, claiming to have created 11 patient-specific human stem cell lines.

But his fall from grace came swiftly at the end of 2005 and has...