[Exclusive] Prosecutors Restore Seongnam FC Internal Messenger Messages... Lee's 'Third-Party Bribery' Confirmed as Decisive Evidence

Prosecutors investigated messages exchanged via the internal messenger by Seongnam FC executives and employees around September to October 2022, during their probe into the allegations of 'illegal sponsorship funds' involving Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, according to the findings of this report.

Seongnam FC Clubhouse, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 13th, a Seongnam FC official who was summoned and questioned by the Criminal Division 3 of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Seongnam Branch (Chief Prosecutor Yoo Min-jong) told this report, "During the investigation, the prosecutors restored deleted messages from the internal messenger and presented them as evidence, asking about the process through which Seongnam FC solicited sponsorship funds from companies."

The official also said, "They particularly focused on questioning the circumstances under which Doosan Construction provided advertising sponsorship funds to Seongnam FC." Doosan Construction has been under investigation for allegedly giving approximately 5.5 billion KRW in advertising sponsorship funds during Lee’s tenure as Seongnam mayor and Seongnam FC club owner from 2016 to 2018, in exchange for changing the zoning of about 3,000 pyeong of hospital land in Jeongja-dong, Bundang-gu, owned by the Doosan Group, to commercial use. Former Doosan Construction Vice Chairman Lee Jae-kyung was indicted on bribery charges.

This is the first time it has been confirmed that prosecutors restored messenger messages from Seongnam FC executives and employees. In the legal community, it had only been known that in October 2022, prosecutors raided the office of lawyer Kwak Seon-woo, who served as Seongnam FC representative, and secured emails containing instructions from Lee and Jeong Jin-sang, chief of staff to the party leader, regarding Seongnam FC operations.

After Seongnam FC was reestablished as a civic club in 2014 from Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, it completely revamped its work systems, requiring employees to use Naver Whale (browser) and Naver Works (work tools). Prosecutors, having identified this, conducted large-scale raids on Naver and others in September 2022, securing related materials and analyzing messages stored on servers. Some deleted messages were also restored.

Prosecutors around the case believe that the internal messenger conversations obtained from executives and employees likely delivered a decisive blow in establishing Lee’s 'third-party bribery' charges. It is highly probable that Seongnam FC staff exchanged updates, outcomes, and opinions related to soliciting advertising sponsorship funds from companies via messenger.

The crime of third-party bribery is established when a person receives an 'improper request' related to their duties and causes a third party to provide a bribe. These messages could serve as crucial evidence proving key elements such as 'improper request' and 'instructions to provide bribes.' Prosecutors are expected to present these message contents as evidence in Lee’s upcoming trial.

Meanwhile, on the 6th, during a preparatory hearing held by the Criminal Division 33 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Dong-hyun), Lee’s side and the prosecution engaged in sharp disputes over the indictment contents. Lee’s side argued, "The prosecution did not specify concrete criminal facts in the indictment and repeatedly presented and recorded entire statements of some witnesses and factual relationships, thereby forming the court’s presumption of guilt." In response, the prosecution countered, "Since the collusion occurred sequentially over a long period and formed a political and economic community, it is impossible to specify all times and places of the conspiracy."