'Illegal Holiday Gifts' Yang Hyang-ja Consistently Denies Charges... "Assistant Proposed First"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Yang Hyang-ja, a member of the National Assembly indicted on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act, continued to deny the allegations in her third trial.

The 12th Criminal Division of the Gwangju District Court (Presiding Judge No Jae-ho) held the third trial on the 26th for Representative Yang Hyang-ja (Independent) and former special aide A, who are accused of violating the Public Official Election Act.

Yang was indicted on charges of conspiring with then special aide A between January and February to distribute gifts worth approximately 15.3 million KRW to about 300 people, including giving fruit worth about 1.9 million KRW to 43 individuals who were constituents or had ties to the electoral district.

Under the Public Official Election Act, members of the National Assembly are prohibited from making donations to people within their electoral district or those who have ties to the constituents.

Yang’s defense attorney argued that "there was no report from the staff regarding the list of gift recipients prepared in an Excel file."

The defense claimed that since Yang was unaware that the list included constituents or related persons, there was no "intent" to commit illegal donation acts.

They also emphasized that in some cases, gifts were given as a return gesture to parties who had sent gifts first.

The attorney explained, "(Yang) did not even know how many people received gifts," adding, "A received many gifts during the Chuseok holiday, and after being elected, there were reports of negative remarks in the region about not giving gifts even once."

The defense argued that Yang did not play a leading role in the donation acts and only had a "vague awareness" of the gift recipients.

A’s defense attorney did not make any statement in court that day.

The prosecution plans to prove the related charges based on A’s testimony and text message records.

The next trial will be held at 2 p.m. on the 20th of next month, during which witness examinations of former aides and current secretaries, who are prosecution witnesses, will take place.