Prosecutors Launch Joint Investigation into 'Lee Jae-myung's Legal Fees' and 'Ssangbangwool Embezzlement Charges'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The prosecution, which had been separately investigating the allegations of attorney fee payments on behalf of Lee Jae-myung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea running for party leader, and the embezzlement charges against Ssangbangwool Group, has formed an investigation team to conduct a joint investigation into both cases.

According to the legal community on the 11th, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office recently organized an investigation team led by Deputy Chief Prosecutor Kim Hyung-rok, with the participation of the Criminal Division 6 (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-nam) and the Public Investigation Division (Chief Prosecutor Jung Won-doo). This is an integration and expansion of the two previously separately investigated cases.

Initially, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office's Public Investigation Division was handling the attorney fee payment allegations, while the same office's Criminal Division 6 was responsible for the embezzlement charges against Ssangbangwool Group, conducting separate investigations including raids on related institutions.

The attorney fee payment allegation involves claims that during Lee's tenure as Governor of Gyeonggi Province in 2018, large sums of legal fees were paid on his behalf to lawyers handling his public official election law violation case, using convertible bonds from Ssangbangwool Group. The investigation began last year after civic groups and the People Power Party submitted related complaints.

The Ssangbangwool case is currently under investigation after the prosecution received data on the group's "suspicious financial flows" from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).