Central District Prosecutors' Office Continues Additional Investigation into Daejang-dong '42.8 Billion Won Agreement Allegation'
Examining North Korea Remittance Suspicion, Third-Party Bribery Charges... Investigating 'Jeongja-dong Hotel' Privileges
The prosecution indicted Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, without detention on the 22nd in connection with preferential treatment in the Daejang and Wirye development projects and allegations regarding donations to Seongnam FC, thereby concluding the investigation into the Daejang-dong development and related suspicions that lasted for one and a half years. However, investigations surrounding Lee are expected to continue for the time being.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 (Chief Prosecutor Eom Hee-jun) and Division 3 (Chief Prosecutor Kang Baek-shin) indicted Lee without detention on charges including 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. Additionally, the Criminal Division 3 of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Seongnam Branch (Chief Prosecutor Yoo Min-jong) referred Lee and Jeong Jin-sang, former Political Coordination Officer of the Democratic Party leader’s office, to trial on charges of bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes and violations of the Act on the Regulation of Concealment of Crime Proceeds.
When the prosecution referred Lee to trial on this day, the charges listed in the indictment were limited to the criminal facts specified when requesting an arrest warrant for Lee last month. The prosecution plans to continue investigations into key allegations surrounding Lee, including the 42.8 billion KRW contract rumor related to the Daejang-dong development, illegal presidential election funds, and corruption allegations in the Baekhyeon-dong development. The Anti-Corruption Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, which is conducting related investigations, has recently focused its investigative efforts by receiving four additional prosecutors.
Investigations related to Lee are also ongoing at the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office and the Seongnam Branch. The Criminal Division 6 of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-nam) is investigating Lee’s involvement in North Korea-related projects between Gyeonggi Province and Ssangbangwool.
The Suwon prosecution team additionally indicted former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor for Peace Lee Hwa-young yesterday on charges of violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act by smuggling 8 million USD (approximately 10.4 billion KRW) to North Korea from January 2019 to January 2020 under the pretext of covering Lee’s North Korea visit expenses. The prosecution believes that Ssangbangwool paid 5 million USD (approximately 6.5 billion KRW) of the 8 million USD as inter-Korean cooperation costs for Gyeonggi Province and 3 million USD (approximately 3.9 billion KRW) as expenses for Lee’s North Korea visit to support the North Korea projects Lee was promoting.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 22nd. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@
The investigation team stated in the indictment against former Deputy Governor Lee that former Ssangbangwool Group Chairman Kim Sung-tae and Ssangbangwool agreed to cover the North Korea visit expenses on behalf of Lee, who was then governor of Gyeonggi Province, and subsequently smuggled 3 million USD overseas under the pretext of covering these expenses and delivered it to the North Korean side. This essentially implies Lee’s involvement in illegal remittances to North Korea. Lee and others strongly deny these charges. The investigation team is reportedly considering applying third-party bribery charges against Lee related to the North Korea remittance and is also contemplating summoning Lee for questioning.
Investigations into Lee are also ongoing at the Seongnam Branch. The Seongnam Branch investigation team is probing allegations of preferential treatment in the Jeongja-dong hotel development project. The core suspicion is that while constructing a tourist hotel on city-owned land in Jeongja-dong, various preferential treatments such as land-use changes were granted by Seongnam City. Initially, this case was assigned to the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 3 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, but considering its connection to existing cases, it was transferred to the Seongnam Branch.
The investigation related to the Jeongja-dong hotel is showing signs of accelerating. Seongnam City is currently auditing the preferential treatment allegations regarding the Jeongja-dong hotel and is reviewing the possibility of requesting an investigation into related parties during Lee’s tenure as mayor of Seongnam. It is known that Seongnam City has judged that Lee’s close municipal officials and private business operators committed breach of trust by granting preferential treatment. The subjects under review for investigation requests include Lee, who was mayor at the time, former Political Coordination Officer Jeong, and about six others, including two city officials and four current and former CEOs of Bejitz Comprehensive Development, the hotel project operator, and its affiliates.
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