Prosecutors Request Arrest Warrant for Yoon Woo-jin on 'Sponsor Suspicion' Charges

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The prosecution has requested a pre-arrest warrant for Yoon Woojin, former head of the Yongsan Tax Office. Yoon is the elder brother of Yoon Daejin, Planning Director (Chief Prosecutor) at the Legal Research and Training Institute, who was a former close aide to Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate.

According to the legal community on the 3rd, the Anti-Corruption and Strong Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Jeong Yonghwan) filed a pre-arrest warrant for Yoon. The pre-arrest detention hearing will be held on the morning of the 7th at the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Judge Lee Sechang, who is in charge of warrants.

Yoon is suspected of receiving money and valuables from sponsors including businessman A and introducing them to legal and tax authorities.

In a petition submitted to the prosecution at the end of last year, A claimed that from around 2018 to 2019, Yoon was repeatedly taken to meetings with current and former prosecutors, senior officials of the National Tax Service, and police, where he paid for meals and golf expenses multiple times.

The prosecution believes that from 2017 to 2020, Yoon received approximately 130 million won in money and valuables from A and two others in three separate instances.

Meanwhile, the prosecution is also investigating allegations that Yoon received golf and other entertainment from meat importers and others between 2010 and 2011, and that the prosecution suppressed investigations by having the police's search warrants dismissed.