Construction Worker: "Jeong Min-yong Obtained Approval from Lee Jae-myung and Seongnam City for Separate Development of '1Gongdan'"

7th Trial on Allegations of Special Privileges in Daejangdong Development

Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management (Hwacheon Daeyu) major shareholder Mr. Kim Man-bae (left) and Nam Wook, lawyer and owner of Cheonhwa Dongin No. 4, a subsidiary of Hwacheon Daeyu

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] On the 14th, testimony emerged that Lawyer Jeong Min-yong, who worked as the head of the Strategic Business Team at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation (Seongnam UDC) related to the Daejang-dong development project, received approval and authorization from Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate (then mayor of Seongnam), for the 'separate development of Daejang-dong and the 1st Industrial Complex.'

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 22 (Presiding Judge Yang Cheol-han) held the 7th trial of five defendants including former Seongnam UDC Planning Headquarters Director Yoo Dong-gyu, Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management (Hwacheon Daeyu) major shareholder Kim Man-bae, lawyer Nam Wook, accountant Jeong Young-hak, and lawyer Jeong on the same day.

In court that day, Mr. Lee, who worked in the Strategic Business Team of Seongnam UDC in 2015 regarding the Daejang-dong project, was questioned as a witness and stated that at that time, Seongnam UDC reported to candidate Lee about excluding the 1st Industrial Complex from the Daejang-dong project and obtained his signature, and that the report was prepared by himself under Lawyer Jeong's instructions.

The 1st Industrial Complex was originally planned to be included and developed jointly with the Daejang-dong development project, but Seongnam City decided to separate the projects in 2016. The prosecution views this outcome as resulting from Hwacheon Daeyu's intention to expedite the Daejang-dong project.

When asked by the prosecutor, "Who was the person who reported the current issues to Mayor Lee Jae-myung and obtained his signature?" Mr. Lee replied, "(The report) was delivered to the city by Jeong Min-yong, as I recall," but added, "I do not know the approval process."

There was also testimony that during the feasibility review process of the Daejang-dong development project, a rental housing site was allocated at the request of Seongnam UDC, and plans for construction and operation were added. Mr. A, a former employee of the Korea Economic Research Institute who conducted the feasibility review at the time, testified that when asked by the prosecutor whether the opinion letter related to rental housing was later prepared at Seongnam UDC's request, he said, "Yes," emphasizing, "There was absolutely no reason to prepare it beforehand without instructions.

Mr. A explained that although the original contract period for the service was set at 50 days, the work was completed in just 22 days because "(Seongnam UDC) insisted on meeting the deadline no matter what," adding, "We did not even review rental housing initially, so there was no reason to include it in the opinion letter. Therefore, we must have written it because we were requested to do so."

The court plans to hold the 8th trial on the 24th and conduct witness questioning of accountant Kim Min-geol, who worked as the head of the Strategic Business Office under former Director Yoo.

Former Director Yoo was indicted on charges of conspiring with Kim and others to provide Hwacheon Daeyu with at least 65.1 billion KRW in land development dividends and at least 117.6 billion KRW in implementation profits, causing equivalent losses to Seongnam UDC. In this process, he is also accused of receiving bribes of 500 million KRW from Kim, and 352 million KRW from lawyer Nam and accountant Jeong, and promising to receive 70 billion KRW from the Daejang-dong development profits. Lawyer Jeong is accused of conspiring with them to structure the project so that Hwacheon Daeyu and Cheonhwa Dongin would receive at least 182.7 billion KRW in profits.