[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] As the prosecution's investigation into the 'Seongnam FC sponsorship fund' allegations enters its final stages, the business community's attention is focused on the judicial outcome for the companies that sponsored the Seongnam FC professional football team.
According to the legal community on the 27th, the Criminal Division 3 of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Seongnam Branch (Chief Prosecutor Yoo Min-jong), which is investigating the case, is reportedly leaning towards indicting the corporate officials involved in delivering sponsorship funds to Seongnam FC under the name of advertising expenses from 2015 to 2017 without detention. It is also reported that the corporate entities themselves will not be prosecuted.
A total of six companies that provided sponsorship funds have come under investigation: Doosan Construction (4.2 billion KRW), Naver (3.9 billion KRW), NongHyup (3.6 billion KRW), Bundang CHA Hospital (3.3 billion KRW), Alphadom City (550 million KRW), and Hyundai Department Store (500 million KRW). The prosecution views that these companies provided bribes by sponsoring Seongnam FC, which is owned by Seongnam City, in exchange for resolving key issues. It is highly likely that charges of bribery will be applied. To this end, the investigation team meticulously reviewed the rulings related to the Park Geun-hye administration's state affairs manipulation case. In particular, they focused on the fact that Shin Dong-bin, chairman of Lotte Group, was indicted for allegedly providing 7 billion KRW to the K-Sports Foundation under the pretext of constructing sports facilities in Hanam City, Gyeonggi Province, to resolve major issues such as the re-selection of duty-free shop business rights, and was sentenced by the Supreme Court to 2 years and 6 months in prison with a 4-year probation. Applying this precedent to the Seongnam FC case, the prosecution judged that there is no difficulty in establishing bribery charges against the companies.
Doosan Construction has already seen its former CEO A indicted along with former Seongnam City Strategic Promotion Team leader B on September 30. Whether additional indictments will follow remains a key issue. Doosan Construction is suspected of having paid about 5 billion KRW in sponsorship funds and receiving conveniences such as land-use changes for a hospital site in Jeongja-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam City, owned by Doosan Group. There is also evidence suggesting that Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, personally handled the Doosan Construction case during his tenure as mayor of Seongnam. The construction of a new office building in Bundang-gu was a long-standing wish of Doosan Construction, and the prosecution concluded that Seongnam City exploited this to receive bribes and approved the previously continuously denied land-use changes.
The prosecution is also reported to have completed investigations into Naver and Bundang CHA Hospital. Naver sponsored Seongnam FC with 3.9 billion KRW through the public interest corporation Hope Sallim (now Jubilee Bank) from 2015 to 2016, and the prosecution believes that in return, the city granted Naver's requests such as increasing the floor area ratio of its second office building and establishing direct access to the Bundang-Suseo Urban Expressway. Regarding this, the prosecution summoned and investigated former Naver CEO Kim Sang-heon, former Democratic Party lawmaker Je Yoon-kyung who served as the executive director of Hope Sallim, and the CEO of a Naver affiliate who oversaw the construction of Naver's second office building to ascertain their alleged offenses. Bundang CHA Hospital, which had plans to establish advanced (stem cell) medical facilities on the sites of the former Bundang Police Station and Bundang Health Center, also sponsored Seongnam FC with 3.3 billion KRW from 2015 to 2017. In 2018, the city decided to change the district unit plan to increase the standard floor area ratio of the Bundang CHA Hospital and Bundang Police Station sites from 200-250% to 460%, and the prosecution believes there was an illicit request involved in this process.
Meanwhile, Lee Jae-myung, who was notified on the 28th to appear for questioning, is expected to refuse the summons. Although the investigation team has not yet received a specific response regarding the notification, the political circle widely believes that he will not appear before the prosecution. On the day of the summons, Lee has scheduled events in the Jeonnam and Gwangju regions under the name of a 'Listening Tour,' including visiting grandmother Yang Geum-deok, a victim of forced Japanese mobilization, and attending a Gwangju on-site supreme council meeting. Accordingly, the prosecution is expected to try to reschedule the summons once more, and if unsuccessful, proceed to indict Lee and others without questioning.
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