The prosecution investigating the Daejang-dong gate is expected to summon Park Young-soo, the former special prosecutor of the Park Geun-hye-Choi Soon-sil gate (71), in the near future to verify the overall suspicions surrounding the '50 Billion Club.'
According to the legal community on the 5th, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Eom Hee-jun) is coordinating schedules to conduct a summons investigation with former Special Prosecutor Park within this week. A prosecution official said, "It doesn't seem like it will take long until the summons." This will be the fourth time Park has been summoned by the prosecution. Previously, he appeared before the prosecution in October 2022 and was investigated on charges of borrowing a Porsche rental car from a so-called 'fake seafood businessman.' Regarding the '50 Billion Club' suspicions, he was investigated by a previous investigation team in November 2021 and January of last year.
If the prosecution summons former Special Prosecutor Park this time, it is expected that sharper questions will be asked compared to previous investigations. This is because the prosecution's investigation into the suspicion that Park, while serving as the chairman of the outside board of directors of Woori Bank in 2014, promised to receive land and commercial buildings worth about 20 billion KRW from private operators in exchange for supporting the formation of the Seongnam Utddeul consortium prepared by the Daejang-dong team and requesting project financing (PF) loans has made significant progress.
The prosecution plans to first verify whether Park exerted influence in 2014 to have Woori Bank submit a letter of intent for a 150 billion KRW loan to the Seongnam Utddeul consortium. Initially, Woori Bank considered participating as an investor in the Seongnam Utddeul consortium but ultimately did not participate in March 2015, citing opposition from the review department. Instead, it submitted a letter of intent for a 150 billion KRW PF loan. During this process, the prosecution suspects that Park received an additional request from Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, to issue the letter of intent since the equity investment had failed, and that Park conveyed this to Woori Bank executives, exerting influence to have the letter of intent issued. In relation to this, the prosecution summoned Kim Jong-won, former head of Woori Credit Information and former deputy head of Woori Bank’s Real Estate Finance Business Division at the time, as a witness on the 31st of last month for questioning.
Additionally, the prosecution is expected to inquire about the nature of the 500 million KRW transferred to Park from Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management’s account in April 2015. The prosecution views this money as collateral for bribes that Park would receive in return for exerting influence on behalf of private operators in Daejang-dong. This 500 million KRW was a business agreement contract deposit that the Seongnam Utddeul consortium, which Hwacheon Daeyu participated in, had to pay to the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation after being selected as the preferred negotiator for the Daejang-dong project. The prosecution believes Park inserted himself as an intermediary in the payment process. It is believed that Park arranged for this money to pass through his account to prove his involvement in the business agreement process in case he did not receive the influence payment. The prosecution is also reported to have secured related testimonies regarding this. If this is true, the possibility that Park was deeply involved in the Daejang-dong project increases significantly, so the prosecution considers it essential to clarify the nature of the 500 million KRW.
Furthermore, the prosecution is examining the possibility that the promised 20 billion KRW worth of land and commercial buildings that Park was initially supposed to receive may have been reduced to about 5 billion KRW due to Woori Bank’s failure to participate as an investor in the Seongnam Utddeul consortium. The investigation is also looking into whether the 255 million KRW salary Park received as an advisor to Hwacheon Daeyu from July 2015 to November 2016 and the 1.1 billion KRW loan his daughter took from Hwacheon Daeyu are part of the 5 billion KRW he was promised. Besides Park, the prosecution plans to summon lawyer Yang Jae-sik for questioning. Lawyer Yang is known to have discussed the consortium formation and PF loan possibilities at the Gangnam law firm office where Park served as the lead attorney.
Meanwhile, on the 29th of last month, former Special Prosecutor Park issued a statement saying, "I have never participated in the Daejang-dong development project or received or promised money or goods in exchange for financial mediation or other services," and added, "These are fictitious facts based on evasive and groundless testimonies from related parties."
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