"Yoo Si-min, No Confirmation of Request for Deferred Notification of Foundation Financial Transactions"

Prosecutors State "No Confirmed Facts" in Non-Indictment Decision Document

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] It has been reported that Yoo Si-min, chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation (hereinafter the Foundation), testified during the prosecution investigation that he had never directly confirmed the prosecution's request to defer notification of the Foundation's financial transaction information.

According to the non-prosecution decision document of the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office, released on the 17th by the civic group Action Alliance for the Rule of Law (Beopse-ryeon), Chairman Yoo appeared on a radio broadcast last year and said, "(Regarding the deferral of notification for providing the Foundation's financial account transaction information) I confirmed everything unofficially," but it was found that he had never directly confirmed this with officials from investigative agencies.

The deferral of notification for providing financial account transaction information refers to a measure that prevents financial institutions from notifying account holders that their account transaction details have been provided to state agencies.

In the non-prosecution decision document, the prosecution stated, "Yoo Si-min testified that he did not unofficially confirm with unidentified investigative agency officials whether (state agencies) had requested the deferral of notification for the Foundation's financial account transaction information," and added, "Yoo Si-min had a precedent of contacting the Foundation in advance to request consultation before receiving transaction information from agencies other than the prosecution. After confirming with Foundation staff, he received reports that no consultation requests had been made, so he believed that agencies other than the prosecution did not receive the information. Therefore, his statement that he 'unofficially confirmed' this was merely a remark."

Earlier, in January last year, the Foundation's Secretary-General sent official letters to the prosecution, police, National Election Commission, and National Tax Service inquiring whether they had requested transaction information regarding the Foundation's financial accounts from financial institutions. It was understood that, except for the prosecution, the other agencies verbally responded that there was no such fact, and this was reported to Chairman Yoo. However, the prosecution stated that there was no objective evidence to verify the verbal responses from these agencies.

Beopse-ryeon filed a complaint, arguing that if an unidentified investigative agency official had confirmed the deferral request to Chairman Yoo, it would constitute official secret leakage. The prosecution, on the 3rd, dismissed the case against the unidentified person due to insufficient evidence.

Since 2019, Chairman Yoo has repeatedly claimed in media interviews and YouTube broadcasts that the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Anti-Corruption and Strong Crime Division illegally tracked his and the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation's accounts in late November or early December 2019. At that time, a certain prosecutor served as the head of the Anti-Corruption and Strong Crime Division. Later, on January 22, Chairman Yoo posted an apology on the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation's website, admitting that his claims were false. On the 3rd, the prosecution indicted Chairman Yoo without detention on charges of defamation via radio broadcast.