Optimus Cleared of Charges: 'Investigation and Inspection' Conducted Simultaneously... Will Inspection Take Priority?

Investigation and Inspection Areas Largely Overlap... Legal Circles Say "Investigation Team Can't Help But Be Cautious"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] As the Ministry of Justice is pushing for an inspection regarding the Korea Communications Agency's request for an investigation into Optimus, concerns are emerging that the ongoing investigation may be affected. The core of this inspection is to examine whether there was a so-called 'lenient investigation' during the process that the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office dismissed last year, but there is a possibility that the inspection ordered by the minister will take precedence over the investigation.

According to the prosecution on the 28th, the Economic Crime Criminal Division of the Central District Prosecutors' Office, currently investigating the Optimus fund fraud case, reviewed the investigation schedule and records related to the Communications Agency and its officials after the Ministry of Justice's inspection order was issued the day before. A member of the investigation team stated, "The Ministry of Justice's inspection is conducted separately from the investigation, and we are always monitoring for any variables during the investigation process," drawing a clear line, but it can be seen as closely watching the Ministry of Justice's inspection process.

The Ministry of Justice began the inspection just one day after Minister Chu announced at the National Assembly audit on the 26th that an inspection would be conducted regarding the 2018 Optimus investigation process. The inspection targets include whether the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office reduced the scope of the investigation despite a thorough investigation request from the Ministry of Science and ICT at the time, and whether the then Central District Prosecutors' Office Chief, Prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol, who is now Prosecutor General, was informed.

The problem is that the Optimus investigation team was already examining the situation at the time of the Communications Agency's investigation request. On the 16th, the investigation team secured testimony from related parties that former Optimus Alternative Investment CEO Jung Young-je provided bribes to the fund management officer to attract investment from the Communications Agency and conducted a search and seizure at the Communications Agency's Gyeongin headquarters.

Even on the 26th, when Minister Chu announced the inspection, the investigation team summoned and questioned a Daishin Securities official who played the role of a sales window during the Communications Agency's Optimus investment process. Since the inspection and investigation targets inevitably overlap significantly, if the Ministry of Justice announces the inspection results first, it could serve as a kind of guideline for the investigation team.

Prosecutor General Yoon's remark on the 22nd at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office audit that the Ministry of Justice's inspection "could be seen as interfering with investigation or prosecution" is interpreted as being conscious of this situation. Although he was referring to the inspection related to the Lime investigation, considering his explanation that "according to the Ministry of Justice's organizational decree, which is a presidential decree, inspections of frontline prosecutors' offices cannot be conducted for the purpose of interfering with any investigation or prosecution" and "usually inspections are conducted after investigations are completed and problems arise," it is interpreted as a critique of the Ministry of Justice's overall inspection behavior.

Concerns are also strong in the legal community. A lawyer with a prosecution background said, "It appears to be a highly political act with added pressure from the ruling party," and added, "Since the inspection was directly initiated by the Minister of Justice, who claims to be the superior of the Prosecutor General, the investigation team cannot help but be cautious."