‘Donbongtu’ Yoon Gwansuk and Lee Seongman Lawmakers Appear in Court... "I Won't Tell Phone Password" Han Donghoon Targeted

Decision on Detention to Be Made on the Night of the 4th or Early Morning of the 5th

Regarding the ‘2021 Party Convention Money Envelope’ allegations involving the Democratic Party of Korea, independent lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Sung-man, who had pre-arrest warrants requested against them, appeared in court on the 4th. This comes about seven weeks after the first arrest warrants requested by the prosecution were automatically dismissed following the National Assembly’s rejection of the arrest consent motion. The prosecution plans to secure the custody of the two lawmakers, complete the identification of lawmakers who received money envelopes, and then intensify the investigation into former Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil.

Independent lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Sung-man are waiting for the vote results on the arrest consent motion during the National Assembly plenary session held on the afternoon of June 12. The arrest consent motion against the two lawmakers was rejected.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The two lawmakers appeared at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, at 10 a.m. to attend the pre-arrest suspect hearing (warrant substantive examination). Before the hearing, Lee held a press conference in front of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, claiming that the prosecution’s request for an arrest warrant was unjust. Regarding the prosecution’s claim of ‘concern over evidence destruction,’ he said, “Those who testified related to me have already been arrested,” and added, “My phone screen was broken and replaced due to the replacement cycle, so if that is considered evidence destruction, would people be afraid to change their phones?” He also said, “I already submitted my phone during the search and seizure, and I gave all the passwords. Would a certain current minister not give passwords when receiving charges?” This remark is interpreted as targeting Han Dong-hoon, Minister of Justice and former research fellow at the Judicial Research and Training Institute during the so-called ‘Channel A incident’ investigation.

Regarding the charge of ‘delivering 10 million won under the pretext of providing to regional headquarters chiefs,’ Lee said, “The prosecution claims I am the deliverer, but that is not true,” and “Even if that were true, a simple deliverer is innocent,” adding, “I will meet the judge and explain well the prosecution’s unjust request for an arrest warrant.” Lawmaker Yoon said, “I will sincerely participate in the court hearing and actively provide explanations,” as he entered the courtroom. The warrant hearings for Yoon and Lee are being conducted by Judge Yoon Jae-nam and Judge Yoo Chang-hoon, respectively, who are in charge of warrants. The decision on whether to detain them is expected late at night or early the next morning.

On the 1st, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-chul) requested arrest warrants against the two lawmakers for violating the Political Parties Act. A prosecution official stated, “This is an unprecedented large-scale organized money-related election case and an anti-constitutional criminal act,” adding, “It is necessary to accurately identify the lawmakers who received money, and due to concerns over evidence destruction, arrest warrants were requested again.”

Lawmaker Yoon is accused of distributing a total of 60 million won, 3 million won each, to 20 incumbent Democratic Party lawmakers to support former leader Song Young-gil’s election ahead of the Democratic Party convention in May 2021. Investigations revealed that around late April of that year, Yoon specifically proposed to campaign staff, “The competing candidate’s camp is distributing 3 million won to lawmakers, so we should also give that amount to our lawmakers.” Subsequently, Park Yong-soo, a former aide to Song, received 50 million won from a businessman named Kim, who was identified as a so-called ‘sponsor,’ and combined with funds within the campaign, provided 60 million won to Yoon in two installments, according to the prosecution. The prosecution believes that on April 28-29, Yoon distributed 20 envelopes containing 3 million won each to Democratic Party lawmakers at the National Assembly main building’s Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee small conference room and the lawmakers’ office building, under the pretext of instructing regional delegates to vote for Song.

Lawmaker Lee is accused of providing 1 million won to Lee Jung-geun, former Deputy Secretary-General of the Democratic Party, in March 2021 as campaign operating expenses to support Song’s election, and 10 million won in cash to regional headquarters chiefs through Kang Rae-gu, former standing auditor of Korea Water Resources Corporation. He is also accused of receiving a 3 million won money envelope from Yoon in April of the same year.

Previously, the prosecution requested arrest warrants for the two lawmakers on May 24, but on June 12, the National Assembly plenary session rejected the arrest consent motion, resulting in automatic dismissal of the warrants without court hearings. The charges in the re-requested arrest warrants are largely the same as those in the previously dismissed warrants. The prosecution stated that after the first warrant was dismissed, they supplemented evidence related to the two lawmakers’ charges and that concerns over evidence destruction remain, making the re-request unavoidable. It is known that the prosecution added details about the identification of lawmakers who received money envelopes, which progressed during the detention of Park Yong-soo and the search and seizure of the National Assembly Secretariat, to this arrest warrant. Accordingly, the prosecution plans to secure custody of the two lawmakers, complete the identification of recipients, and verify whether former leader Song was involved or directed the acts.