Investigation Request Case by Anti-Corruption Commission Transferred to Supreme Prosecutors' Office on 18th... Ongoing Investigation of Yoon Dae-jin and Others
[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Unit (HCIC) has handed over the 'Kim Hak-ui former Deputy Minister of Justice illegal travel ban' whistleblowing case to the prosecution after more than a year since receiving the case.
According to the legal community on the 19th, the HCIC transferred the related case, which the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission requested for investigation, to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office yesterday.
The case handed over by the HCIC involves Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jang Jun-hee of the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office's Major Economic Crimes Investigation Division, who filed a whistleblowing report with the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission against 18 people, including former Minister of Justice Park Sang-ki, then Deputy Minister of Justice Kim Oh-soo, and Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won.
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jang, who was the head of the Criminal Division 3 at the Anyang Branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, detected circumstances in March 2019 during the investigation where Prosecutor Lee, who was dispatched to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Past Affairs Investigation Team, illegally banned former Deputy Minister Kim's departure from the country. However, under pressure from higher-ups, the investigation was concluded. Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jang reported these facts to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission in January last year, which then requested an investigation by the HCIC.
Earlier, in April last year, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office indicted Cha Gyu-geun, a research fellow at the Judicial Research and Training Institute (then head of the Immigration and Foreign Policy Headquarters), Prosecutor Lee, and others on charges of illegal travel bans. Former Blue House Civil Affairs Secretary Lee Kwang-chul, who was deeply involved in this process, was also indicted in July of the same year.
The HCIC is continuing its investigation into former Director of the Prosecutor's Office at the Ministry of Justice Yoon Dae-jin and former Chief of the Anyang Branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Lee Hyun-cheol, who are suspected of exerting external pressure on the investigation into the illegal travel ban case of former Deputy Minister Kim.
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