Mutual Disclosure of Ssangbangwool Investigation Secrets Sparks Responsibility Debate Over Prosecutors' Higher-Ups (Comprehensive)

Investigator and Ssangbangwool Executive Transaction Confirmed
Calls for Investigation of Leadership Including Shin Seong-sik

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The prosecution's investigation into the leak of investigation secrets related to Ssangbangwool is now targeting the prosecution itself. Inside the prosecution, there is shock over the fact that certain factions made some kind of deal, and there are even calls for "accountability" regarding the higher-ups in the prosecution at the time the investigation secrets were leaked.

According to the prosecution on the 5th, the Criminal Division 1 of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Son Jin-wook) urgently arrested investigator A from the Criminal Division 6 of the same office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-nam) and Ssangbangwool executive B, a former prosecution investigator, on suspicion of leaking investigation materials the day before. The urgent arrest without a warrant issued by the court indicates that clear evidence of suspicion was confirmed. On the 2nd, the Criminal Division 1 conducted a search and seizure of the Ethics Management Office at Ssangbangwool's headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and reportedly secured records showing that A and B exchanged investigation materials. With A and B identified as the leakers of investigation secrets, the investigation is expected to accelerate. The scope, details, and number of people involved in the leak may also increase. In other words, it has become a situation that could expand into a "major investigation deal gate" involving influential political figures, the prosecution, and large corporations. Currently, the Criminal Division 1 is conducting an internal inspection against the Criminal Division 6, but there are also expectations that inspections from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office or the Ministry of Justice may take place if necessary.

In the legal community, voices are emerging that an investigation is needed into the prosecution leadership who were in office at the time the investigation secrets were leaked. These include Shin Seong-sik, a research fellow at the Judicial Research and Training Institute (age 57, 27th Judicial Research and Training Institute class), and Kim Jong-hyun, the Criminal Policy Officer at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office (age 46, 33rd class). Research fellow Shin was appointed as the head of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office in June 2021, when the leak is suspected to have occurred, and served until May of this year. He has been regarded in the legal community as a figure close to the previous administration and is an alumnus of Chung-Ang University with Lee Jae-myung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, who has been accused of "lawyer fee payment suspicions." Officer Kim investigated Lee's "lawyer fee payment suspicions" as head of the Public Investigation Division at Suwon District Prosecutors' Office in November last year, but controversy arose because he had previously worked with Lee Tae-hyung (age 54, 24th class), a key figure in the suspicion. Lee Tae-hyung worked as head of the Public Security Division at Suwon District Prosecutors' Office from 2010 to 2012, during which time Officer Kim served as a prosecutor in the Public Security Division. If the prosecution expands the investigation into the leak of investigation secrets, internal inspections of these individuals seem inevitable.

Meanwhile, Suwon District Prosecutors' Office is also focusing on investigating Lee's "lawyer fee payment suspicions" and the "Ssangbangwool embezzlement and breach of trust" allegations along with this case. The Public Investigation Division (Chief Prosecutor Jeong Won-du) and the Criminal Division 6 are in charge, respectively. The lawyer fee payment suspicion involves Lee Tae-hyung receiving 30 million KRW in cash and convertible bonds (CB) worth 2 billion KRW from Ssangbangwool as fees for handling Lee Jae-myung's public election law violation case. The Ssangbangwool embezzlement and breach of trust suspicion concerns suspicious transactions involving tens of billions of won during the issuance and resale of CBs within the group from 2020 to 2021, as reported by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in November last year.

There is also no ruling out the possibility that the two cases are related. Earlier, on the 7th of last month, while the Public Investigation Division was conducting a search and seizure of the law firm office where Lee Tae-hyung belongs in connection with the lawyer fee payment suspicion, confidential materials believed to have been created by the Criminal Division 6 investigating the Ssangbangwool case were found on site. The prosecution is reportedly also investigating suspicions that the leak of these materials is linked to Kim Sung-tae, former chairman of Ssangbangwool, who suddenly left for Singapore in early June.