Police Request Arrest Warrant for Former GH President Lee Heon-wook, Tenant of ‘Lee Jae-myung’s Next-door’ GH Dormitory

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The police have applied for an arrest warrant for former GH President Lee Heon-wook on charges of leasing a dormitory of Gyeonggi Housing and Urban Corporation (GH) next door to Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, when Lee was residing in Seongnam City.

The Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Investigation Unit of the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency applied on the 31st for a pre-arrest warrant against the former president Lee on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (breach of trust in the course of duty).

The former president Lee is suspected of causing damage to the company by ordering the GH Pangyo Project Team in August 2020 to lease one apartment of 200.66㎡ (61 pyeong) in Sunae-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam City, for a two-year jeonse deposit of 950 million KRW.

The police confirmed circumstances that Bae Mo, a former Grade 5 public official in the General Affairs Division of Gyeonggi Provincial Government and a key figure in the so-called ‘corporate card misuse suspicion’ involving Lee’s wife Kim Hye-kyung, was involved in the contract process.

Meanwhile, the People Power Party filed a complaint against former president Lee last February, raising suspicions related to the GH dormitory. GH claimed that the leased apartment was intended as accommodation for employees living far away, but suspicions arose as the neighboring house was where Lee resided, questioning whether it was truly a dormitory.