Investigation Ends After 12 Hours 30 Minutes... Prosecution Demands Additional Summons
Lee: "Delay Tactics in Questioning... Privatization of State Power"
[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who was summoned by the prosecution in connection with the Daejang-dong scandal, finished his investigation after about 12 hours and returned home.
On the 28th, around 10:50 p.m., as Lee left the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office building, he responded to reporters' questions about how the prosecution investigation was by saying, "As expected from the prosecution under the Yoon Seok-yeol prosecutor dictatorship regime, it felt like they were doing politics rather than an investigation."
He also said, "It does not feel like an investigation to discover the truth but rather a manipulation aimed at prosecution," adding, "The act of deliberately delaying to summon again, repeating questions, presenting materials, and delaying questions is a very wrong act of privatizing state power."
Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, who completed the suspect interrogation related to the Wirye and Daejang-dong development corruption case, is answering questions from the press on the afternoon of the 28th at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Lee appeared before the prosecution for investigation about 1 year and 4 months after the prosecution began investigating the Daejang-dong related allegations. The investigation, which started around 10:30 a.m., lasted about 12 hours and 30 minutes. Lee did not agree to a late-night investigation and from around 9 p.m., he spent nearly two hours reviewing the statement records of what he had testified that day.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 (Chief Prosecutor Eom Hee-jun) and Division 3 (Chief Prosecutor Kang Baek-shin) consider a single investigation insufficient and have requested additional investigation from Lee's side.
Lee is accused of allowing private contractors to gain enormous profits related to the Wirye and Daejang-dong development projects while serving as mayor of Seongnam. The prosecution believes Lee provided special favors to private contractors and gained unfair profits of 788.6 billion KRW from the Daejang-dong project and 21.1 billion KRW from the Wirye New Town project.
However, Lee counters by calling it a "model public interest recovery project." He claims that by changing the Daejang-dong project to a public-private joint development method, some development profits could be recovered. Lee also sharply criticizes the prosecution for applying charges such as breach of trust against him based solely on changed testimonies from lawyer Nam Wook, who was deeply involved in the Daejang-dong development project, and former Seongnam Urban Development Corporation Planning Director Yoo Dong-gyu.
Lee showed clear discomfort even when he appeared before the prosecution in the morning. He criticized, "Today, this place is the site where the Yoon Seok-yeol prosecutor dictatorship regime triumphed over the rule of law and destroyed the constitutional order," and called it "the worst site where the Yoon Seok-yeol prosecutor dictatorship regime privatized state power."
If Lee refuses to accept the request for additional investigation, the prosecution is expected to review the statements given that day and decide whether to request an arrest warrant.
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