Tomorrow's Large-Scale Personnel Changes in Prosecution Restructuring: Where Will the Samba Investigation Team Go...

Investigation Command Anti-Corruption Division 4 Transitions to Trial Division
Mid-Level and Ordinary Prosecutor Personnel Changes Planned
Possible Replacement of 17 Including Chief Lee Bok-hyun
Concerns Raised Over Disruption of Investigation Continuity

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] "If they remove Lee Bok-hyun as well, with Han Dong-hoon already gone... it’s basically saying they will drop the investigations into Samsung C&T and Samsung Biologics."

On the 22nd, a day before the mid-level prosecutor personnel reshuffle, an insider familiar with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office situation said this. Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon, who had been leading the prosecution’s anti-corruption and violent crime cases, was recently demoted to Deputy Chief Prosecutor at Busan High Prosecutors’ Office. Prosecutor Lee Bok-hyun is currently the head of the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 4 at the Central District Prosecutors’ Office and has been practically leading the Samsung-related investigations. With a high likelihood of personnel changes following Deputy Chief Han, concerns within the prosecution are growing. This indicates that the investigations into the Samsung C&T merger and Samsung Biologics accounting fraud cases have reached a critical juncture.

The Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 4, which has been handling these cases, consists of 17 prosecutors including the division chief. Considering that a typical department has about 5 to 8 prosecutors, this is a mammoth-sized team two to three times larger. This underscores the prosecution’s full commitment to these investigations.

Samsung-related investigations will be reassigned to the newly established Economic Crime Criminal Division following the prosecution’s organizational restructuring approved at the Cabinet meeting on the 21st. This division was originally the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 3 under a different name. The Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 4 will be converted into a trial division. The personnel reshuffle on the 3rd will be based on this organizational restructuring. Since the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 4 is transitioning from an investigative to a trial division, it is highly likely that all personnel, including the division chief, will be replaced.

If the prosecutors from the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 4 who have been investigating the Samsung cases move to the Economic Crime Criminal Division, some continuity in the investigations could be maintained, but currently, this seems unlikely. First, Prosecutor Lee Bok-hyun is already being considered for personnel changes. He first worked with Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl in 2006 on the Lone Star case, and later collaborated on the National Intelligence Service staff’s election interference case and the special prosecutor team led by Park Young-soo. He is known as a so-called “Yoon Seok-youl kid.” Because of this, there are even speculations that he might be assigned to a low-profile regional post, similar to the previous chief prosecutor-level reshuffle.

Some speculate that Prosecutor Lee might move to become the head of the Economic Crime Criminal Division, as no one else is as familiar with the Samsung-related investigations as he is. However, based on the personnel changes made so far, this possibility appears quite low. There are also expectations that some existing personnel, such as deputy chiefs or regular prosecutors, might be transferred to the Economic Crime Criminal Division to maintain continuity. But with the entire leadership being replaced, it will likely take considerable time for new staff to fully grasp the progress of the investigations. The Ministry of Justice’s mid-level prosecutor and regular prosecutor personnel reshuffle will be announced on the morning of the 23rd and take effect on the 3rd of next month.