[Asia Economy Reporter Kwak Min-jae] It has been confirmed that former Seongnam Urban Development Corporation Director Yoo Dong-gyu appointed a public defender for the trial concerning his sentencing. This is interpreted as due to his financial hardship, unlike the private businessmen Nam Wook and Jung Min-yong, who were indicted together and have appointed private attorneys to prepare for the trial.
According to the legal community on the 3rd, the preparatory hearing for the trial of former Deputy Director Kim Yong of the Democratic Research Institute and former Director Yoo, who were indicted on charges of exchanging illegal presidential election funds amounting to about 800 million won, will be held on the 23rd under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Division 23 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Jo Byung-gu).
It is known that former Director Yoo, after being assigned to the trial court on the 9th of last month, struggled to hire a lawyer and eventually decided to request a public defender. Former Director Yoo is reported to currently have no significant assets and only debts. Earlier, when he was released due to the expiration of his detention period, he told reporters, "I have debts of 70 million won."
However, the court recently froze assets worth about 80 billion won secured by major shareholders of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, Kim Man-bae, Nam, and accountant Jung Young-hak, who are private developers of the Daejang-dong project, but assets under former Director Yoo’s name were not included.
The exact reason for the sudden deterioration of former Director Yoo’s financial situation is not clearly known. However, according to the prosecution’s written statement by Jung Min-yong, it is reported that former Director Yoo struggled with alimony payments following his divorce from his ex-wife in 2020. Another factor is analyzed to be the considerable legal fees incurred due to investigations and trials continuing since last year.
The general outlook is that former Director Yoo, who is expected to be additionally indicted for bribery charges related to Director Jung, will likely rely on the assistance of a public defender in the upcoming trials as well.
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