"Claiming the Money Given to Son Is Not a Bribe"
[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Jo Eung-cheon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, predicted that the acquittal of former People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do on bribery charges will also affect the investigation into Lee Jae-myung's alleged corruption in the Daejang-dong development project.
On the 9th, Jo appeared on YTN Radio's "News King Park Ji-hoon" and said, "The evidentiary value of the Jung Young-hak recordings has been completely denied. The Jung Young-hak recordings are a crucial point, and without them, the Daejang-dong investigation is likely to spin aimlessly like a bicycle chain coming off."
He pointed out, "(The prosecution) has so far approached the case based on the Jung Young-hak recordings with the logic that 'the money given to close aides was actually given to Representative Lee' and 'it was given as political or election funds.' Regarding the case of former lawmaker Kwak, they say that the money given to his son was not given to the father, so how do they connect people like Kim Yong (former deputy director of the Democratic Research Institute) and Jeong Jin-sang (former political coordination officer in the Democratic Party representative office), who are completely outsiders, to Representative Lee?"
Jo criticized the prosecution's investigation into former lawmaker Kwak, saying, "If the investigation had been properly conducted, would this result have come out? It is selective incompetence, intentional incompetence by the prosecution. The prosecutor's job is to prove beyond reasonable doubt, but they did not do that."
He added, "How else could someone who is not the son of a powerful figure receive a retirement payment of 5 billion won? If my own son demanded a retirement payment of 5 billion won from me, I wouldn't know what to do," he said.
He said, "The public's view of the courts, prosecution, and Seocho-dong is not very favorable. There is a perception that they protect each other and have connections, and this ruling seems to reinforce that perception. Generally, I believe it is not right to criticize court rulings in a country governed by the rule of law, but after seeing yesterday's ruling, I felt ashamed," he said.
Former lawmaker Kwak is accused of receiving a bribe of 5 billion won (2.5 billion won after taxes, etc.) in the form of retirement pay from the Daejang-dong group. On the 8th, the first trial court ruled that although 5 billion won is an unusual amount for retirement pay, it is difficult to consider it a bribe and acquitted Kwak.
The recordings by accountant Jung Young-hak, a member of the Daejang-dong group, included discussions about how Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, would deliver 5 billion won through Kwak's son, but the court did not recognize the credibility of these recordings. Kim has claimed the recordings are "fabrications."
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