The Increasingly Complex Daejang-dong Trial... 'Defendant Lee Jae-myung' Case Also Begins

"There is a growing concern as the results and judgments of different trial panels tend to influence each other."

This was stated on the 15th in court by the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 22 (Chief Judge Lee Jun-cheol), which is presiding over the case involving Hwacheon Daeyu major shareholder Kim Man-bae, former Seongnam Urban Development Corporation director Yoo Dong-gyu, lawyer Nam Wook, and others, related to the Daejang-dong development and preferential corruption allegations.

The court expressed its concerns after the prosecution indicted Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, whom the prosecution identified as the apex of the Daejang-dong case, and also requested changes to the indictments of Kim and other co-defendants.

After about a year and a half of hearings on the Daejang-dong group, the prosecution recently applied to amend the indictments of the co-defendants who were indicted before Lee Jae-myung. Lee’s case was assigned to the same court’s Criminal Division 33 (Chief Judge Kim Dong-hyun), and the prosecution requested that the amount of embezzlement in the other defendants’ case, which Criminal Division 22 is hearing, be aligned with that of Lee’s case. When the prosecution first indicted Kim and others in November 2021, the indictment stated the embezzlement amount as 'at least 65.1 billion KRW,' but after additional investigation, when Lee was indicted in March, the embezzlement amount was assessed at 489.5 billion KRW.

Although Lee’s trial has begun in earnest, it is expected that it will take at least another one to two years to reach a conclusion in the related trials. This is because there are many materials to review, and multiple trial panels are separately hearing related cases, making a prolonged trial inevitable.

The prosecution told Criminal Division 22, "Through long-term additional investigation, the essential structure of the crime has become clearer, and the amount of damage has significantly increased, and we understand the extended duration of the court’s hearings," but added, "We thought the best option was to consolidate the cases into one trial panel, but each panel was opposed to consolidation."

In response, the court said, "If the cases currently being heard are consolidated, those cases cannot proceed for several months or more," and "The additional facts and charges recently added by the prosecution are considerably voluminous beyond what has been heard so far, so we have many concerns about whether to permit the amendment of the indictment." Lawyer Nam’s defense counsel said, "If the indictment amendment is permitted, evidence examination and other procedures must be redone," and "Including the Wirye New Town case, trials are effectively proceeding in five different panels, making it impossible to predict when the first trial will end. We are at a loss as to how to exercise the right to defense going forward."

The Daejang-dong embezzlement case is currently being heard by several panels at the Seoul Central District Court. Lee’s case is assigned to Criminal Division 33 of the same court, while related charges against his 'closest aides,' former Chief of Political Coordination at the Party Representative’s Office Jeong Jin-sang and former Deputy Director of the Democratic Research Institute Kim Yong, are being heard by Criminal Division 23 (Chief Judge Jo Byung-gu). The Wirye New Town development preferential treatment suspicion case, known as the 'Daejang-dong mock exam,' is presided over by Criminal Single Judge Kim Sang-il, and the case where the Daejang-dong group was additionally indicted for violating the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act is handled by Criminal Division 22.

At the first trial of Lee’s Daejang-dong related case held on the 11th under Criminal Division 33, Jeong Jin-sang’s side, who was indicted together as Lee’s 'closest aide,' said, "It seems it will take about a year just to review the records. The copying costs alone are 10 million KRW." The court predicted, "It will take about one to two years to proceed." The records submitted to this court include about 200 volumes related to Daejang-dong, about 50 volumes related to Wirye, and about 400 volumes related to Seongnam FC, totaling approximately 200,000 pages.

However, the likelihood of the prosecution additionally indicting Lee and others in connection with the Daejang-dong embezzlement case appears low. Recently released on bail, former Chief Jeong and former Deputy Director Kim deny any connection with Lee, and Kim Man-bae also maintains the position that "(Hwacheon Daeyu affiliate) Cheonhwa Dongin No. 1 is mine," making it difficult for the investigation to make progress.