'Son's Severance Pay of 5 Billion Won' Gwak Sang-do, First Trial Verdict Today

Former People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do is leaving the courthouse after completing the pre-arrest detention hearing on February 4.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The first trial defense proceedings for former People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do, who was indicted on charges including accepting bribes from Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management (Hwacheon Daeyu), which led the Daejang-dong development project, will conclude on the 30th.

On the morning of this day, the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 22 (Chief Judge Lee Joon-cheol) will hold the final defense hearing for former lawmaker Kwak, Hwacheon Daeyu major shareholder Kim Man-bae, and lawyer Nam Wook.

Typically, at the final hearing, the prosecution first presents their closing arguments and sentencing requests, followed by the defendant’s defense attorney’s final statement, and lastly, the defendant’s final remarks. The sentencing trial is generally held 3 to 4 weeks after the final hearing, so the first trial verdict is expected to be delivered within this year at the earliest.

Former lawmaker Kwak was arrested and indicted on charges including accepting 5 billion KRW (2.5 billion KRW excluding taxes) at the end of April last year through his son Byung-chae, who worked at Hwacheon Daeyu, as a retirement payment and other forms of compensation in exchange for helping Hwacheon Daeyu form a consortium with Hana Bank for the 2015 Daejang-dong project (bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes). After 185 days in detention, he was granted bail in August and is currently on trial without detention.

Former lawmaker Kwak claims innocence, stating he did not assist the Daejang-dong group and was unaware that his son received the retirement payment. Kim was indicted alongside him on charges of bribing Kwak, and lawyer Nam was indicted for delivering illegal political funds amounting to 50 million KRW, but both deny the charges.

However, in a previous hearing, lawyer Nam testified that "Kwak told Kim, 'Take the money out of the company and serve three years in prison, then come out,'" but both Kwak and Kim’s sides questioned the credibility of Nam’s testimony and actively denied the statement.