Prosecutors are drawing attention as they are expected to indict Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, this week in connection with the 'Wirye and Daejang-dong development corruption' and the 'Seongnam FC illegal sponsorship fund' allegations.
However, the most notable allegations of the '42.8 billion won agreement' and 'illegal political fund receipt' are expected to be excluded from the current charges.
According to the legal community on the 19th, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 (Chief Prosecutor Eom Hee-jun) and Division 3 (Chief Prosecutor Kang Baek-shin) are strongly considering indicting Lee without detention in the latter half of this week. Since more than a month has passed since the warrant request, it is understood that they judged there is no reason to delay the indictment of the charges that have been sufficiently proven. The prosecution's investigation into the Daejang-dong development allegations began in September 2021 and has lasted about a year and a half. If Lee, who has been pointed out as the central figure of the allegations, is indicted, the investigation is expected to enter its final stage.
The charges to be included in Lee's indictment are expected to be breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, violations of the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act and the Anti-Corruption Act, bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, and violations of the Act on the Regulation of Concealment of Criminal Proceeds, as described in the arrest warrant request submitted last month.
Lee is accused of designing a business structure favorable to private developers involved in the Daejang-dong development during his tenure as mayor of Seongnam, causing a loss of 489.5 billion won to the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation and enabling private developers to gain 788.6 billion won in profits. In the Wirye New Town development project, he is accused of providing internal information to private developers, resulting in an unfair gain of 21.1 billion won.
He is also accused of providing conveniences such as building permits and land use changes to four companies, including Doosan Construction and Naver, in exchange for securing sponsorship funds of 13.35 billion won for Seongnam FC. This case was transferred from the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Seongnam Branch to the Central District Prosecutors' Office.
Prosecutors requested Lee's arrest warrant on the 16th of last month based on these allegations, but the warrant was dismissed by the court after the National Assembly rejected the consent for arrest on the 27th of the same month.
The allegation that Kim Man-bae, a private developer in Daejang-dong, promised Lee's side a hidden stake worth 42.8 billion won in Cheonhwa-dongin No. 1 (fraudulent receipt), and the allegation that Kim Yong, former deputy director of the Democratic Research Institute and close aide, received 847 million won in presidential primary funds from Nam Wook (violation of the Political Funds Act), are reportedly not included in this indictment.
Kim and other close aides involved in these cases, such as Jeong Jin-sang, former chief of political coordination in Lee's office, have been tight-lipped, resulting in no meaningful testimony. Kim Yong, who was indicted for directly receiving presidential primary funds, maintains that the charges themselves are false.
Since the remaining cases are not unrelated to these two allegations, prosecutors plan to continue follow-up investigations and seek supplementary evidence.
Additionally, after indicting Lee without detention, prosecutors are expected to consider reapplying for an arrest warrant after completing investigations into the North Korea remittance case and the Baekhyeon-dong and Jeongja-dong development corruption cases.
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