Prosecution Indicts Shincheonji's Lee Man-hee for Obstructing COVID-19 Quarantine Measures

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] Lee Man-hee (89), the chairman of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (Shincheonji), who was arrested on charges of obstructing the government's COVID-19 quarantine activities, has been indicted.

On the 14th, the Criminal Division 6 of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Park Seung-dae) indicted Chairman Lee on charges including violation of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, obstruction of official duties by deception, violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (embezzlement), and obstruction of business. Additionally, 11 Shincheonji affiliates were also indicted on the same charges.

Chairman Lee was arrested on the 1st for allegedly conspiring with Shincheonji executives in February, when COVID-19 was spreading centered around Shincheonji, to report reduced numbers of believers and meeting locations to quarantine authorities.

He is also accused of embezzling approximately 5 billion KRW of church funds during the construction of the Peace Palace, Shincheonji's training center, totaling 5.6 billion KRW, and holding religious events in public facilities of local governments without approval from 2015 to last year.

The 11 individuals indicted without detention along with Chairman Lee are mostly Shincheonji executives, who were investigated to have engaged in illegal activities such as destroying evidence, forging documents to obtain building permits, and unauthorized use of facilities for church activities.

The prosecution received a complaint against Chairman Lee from the National Shincheonji Victims Solidarity (Jeonpiyeon) on February 27 and conducted an investigation of the complainants. They carried out investigations confirming discrepancies between materials submitted by Shincheonji and those secured by quarantine authorities.

Earlier last month, three individuals including A, the general affairs officer of the Shincheonji Gwacheon headquarters, were arrested and indicted for intentionally omitting parts of materials submitted to quarantine authorities and destroying evidence in preparation for the investigation, while four others were indicted without detention.

With the additional indictment of 12 people including Chairman Lee on this day, the total number of people indicted in this case has increased to 19.