On the 22nd, the prosecution indicted Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, in connection with the ‘Wirye and Daejang-dong development corruption’ and ‘Seongnam FC illegal sponsorship’ cases. This came one year and six months after the investigation into the Daejang-dong corruption began in September 2021.
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 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 five charges. Regarding the Daejang-dong development corruption case, he was charged with breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and violation of the Public Official Conflict of Interest Prevention Act. For the Wirye New Town development preferential treatment case, he was charged with violating the Anti-Corruption Act, and for the Seongnam FC illegal sponsorship case, he was charged with third-party bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes and violation of the Act on the Regulation of Concealment of Criminal Proceeds.
However, the prosecution decided not to include the charges related to the suspicion of a “42.8 billion won bribery agreement” (accepting bribes after wrongful acts) in the indictment and will continue investigating. This suspicion involves Lee allegedly providing preferential treatment to private developers in Daejang-dong and, in return, promising through close aides to receive 42.8 billion won worth of shares in Cheonhwa-dongin No. 1.
The charge of receiving 847 million won in presidential primary funds from Nam Wook through Kim Yong, former deputy director of the Democratic Research Institute (violation of the Political Funds Act), was also excluded from this indictment.
The prosecution additionally indicted Lee’s closest aide, Jeong Jin-sang, former director of political coordination at the party leader’s office, in connection with the Seongnam FC illegal sponsorship case. The prosecution judged that Jeong played a leading role in the breach of trust while serving as Seongnam City’s policy secretary from 2010 to 2018. Jeong is currently on trial after being detained and indicted on charges including accepting a promised bribe of 42.8 billion won from the Daejang-dong group (accepting bribes after wrongful acts) and receiving a bribe of 240 million won. On the same day, the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office Seongnam Branch indicted corporate officials from Doosan Construction, Naver, and others who made quid pro quo sponsorship payments to Seongnam FC, as well as Seongnam city officials, on charges of bribery.
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