SEOUL: An independent counsel cleared President-elect Lee Myung-bak yesterday of financial fraud allegations that had clouded his rise to the country's highest office.

The announcement put an end to suspicions that Lee colluded in a 2001 stock price manipulation case, a controversy that plagued Lee throughout last year's campaign.

"The president-elect was not involved in the stock price manipulation," special prosecutor Chung Ho-young said in a televized announcement of the outcome of a 38-day investigation.