Namuk "Kim Man-bae said, 'Sangdo-hyung spoke with the Hana Bank chairman'"

"'The consortium was about to break up, but Sang Do-hyeong made a call to the chairman and stopped it, so we were able to win,' (Kim Man-bae) said, and I remember saying, 'Oh, really?'"
- Nam Wook, lawyer and owner of Cheonhwa-dongin No. 4, a subsidiary of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management (Hwacheon Daeyu)

Testimony in court revealed that when the 'Daejang-dong development' consortium involving Hana Bank was on the verge of collapse, former People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do personally called the Hana Bank chairman to resolve the issue.

On the 25th, the 22nd Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Jun-cheol) held a continuation trial for former lawmaker Kwak, Hwacheon Daeyu major shareholder Kim Man-bae, and lawyer Nam.

That day, lawyer Nam testified that during the formation of the consortium with Hana Bank, Kim said that former lawmaker Kwak blocked a strong competitor construction company. However, Nam said he could not understand the reason why he had to pay money to former lawmaker Kwak.

Former lawmaker Kwak was indicted on charges of exerting influence on Hana Financial Group at Kim’s request when the Hana Bank consortium, which Hwacheon Daeyu participated in, was on the verge of collapse in the early stages of the Daejang-dong development project in 2015. In return, the prosecution views that his son Byung-chae, who worked at Hwacheon Daeyu for about six years, received 5 billion KRW as severance pay and about 500 million KRW in existing loans.

He is also accused of receiving 50 million KRW in illegal political funds from lawyer Nam in 2016 after being elected as a member of the National Assembly in the 20th general election.

On the other hand, former lawmaker Kwak denies the charges, stating, "I only became aware of this case when it started to be publicized through the media," and "At that time, I was not aware that my son received severance pay and bonuses." Regarding the illegal political funds charge, he claims, "It was a fee for legal services, not political funds."