The prosecution filed an arrest warrant for Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, on the 18th.
The prosecution applied charges including breach of trust under the Specific Economic Crimes Act for granting special favors to private contractors and causing losses during the Baekhyeon-dong development project, subornation of perjury in a public official election law violation case involving impersonation of a prosecutor, and bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes related to illegal remittances to North Korea by Ssangbangwool Group.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is appearing at the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi Province on the 12th to undergo investigation related to the suspicion of 'Ssangbangwool Group's remittance to North Korea.' Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@
On the day, Lee, who was on the 19th day of his hunger strike, was transferred to a hospital due to deteriorating health, but the prosecution stated that they filed the arrest warrant as originally planned, judging that political considerations or reasons other than the rights guaranteed to the suspect should not influence the judicial process.
The Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Eom Hee-jun) filed a pre-arrest warrant against Lee on the morning of the 18th on charges of breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, subornation of perjury, bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, and violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.
According to the prosecution, from April 2014 to February 2017, during the Baekhyeon-dong project, Lee conspired with Jeong Jin-sang, former chief of political coordination at the party leader's office, to exclude Seongnam Urban Development Corporation from the project at the request of broker Kim In-seop, former CEO of Korea Housing Technology, and allowed the Baekhyeon-dong development project to be carried out solely by Seongnam R&D PFV, operated by private contractor Jeong Ba-ul, CEO of Asia Developer. In doing so, they provided multiple special favors such as upgrading the land use zone for apartment construction, changing the donation target, reducing the proportion of rental apartments, and approving illegal retaining wall installation.
In this process, Jeong gained profits worth approximately 135.6 billion KRW through sole implementation, Kim received 7.7 billion KRW from Jeong as a bribe, and Seongnam Urban Development Corporation suffered losses estimated at no less than 20 billion KRW, according to the prosecution's assessment.
Additionally, the prosecution applied charges against Lee for allegedly calling Kim, a former secretary to ex-Seongnam Mayor Kim Byung-ryang, in December 2018 and requesting false testimony favorable to himself in a trial concerning his violation of the Public Official Election Act related to impersonation of a prosecutor.
Finally, the prosecution charged that from January to April 2019, when Gyeonggi Province was unable to fulfill a promised $5 million USD smart farm project support to North Korea due to sanctions, Lee conspired with Lee Hwa-young, former vice governor for peace of Gyeonggi Province, to accept improper requests from Kim Sung-tae, former chairman of Ssangbangwool Group, for exclusive business opportunities and fund support while promoting inter-Korean projects with Ssangbangwool Group, and requested Kim to cover the costs, resulting in Kim paying a total of approximately $5 million USD to North Korea.
They also applied charges for the period from July 2019 to January 2020, where Lee allegedly asked Kim to facilitate his visit to North Korea and requested Kim to cover $3 million USD in travel expenses, including vehicles and protocol costs demanded by North Korea, leading Kim to pay approximately $3 million USD to North Korea.
A prosecution official stated, "The prosecution filed the arrest warrant fully considering the seriousness of the crimes and grounds for detention such as evidence destruction, based on the detention criteria generally applied to suspects under the law," adding, "Criminal justice should not be politicized, and no factors other than the rights guaranteed by law to the suspect should obstruct criminal justice. Under this principle, the arrest warrant was filed."
With the filing of the arrest warrant against Lee on this day, if the consent for arrest is reported at the plenary session scheduled for the 20th, a vote is expected to take place at the plenary session as early as the 21st.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
