Released after detention period expiration, investigation into Daejang-dong preferential treatment and 5 billion Club suspicions within a month
Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, who was indicted on charges of bribery, is attending the first trial sentencing hearing related to the Daejang-dong development project lobbying and preferential treatment allegations at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu on the afternoon of February 8.
Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, was summoned by the prosecution one month after being released due to the expiration of his detention period.
According to the legal community on the 10th, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kang Baek-shin) summoned Kim on the same day as a suspect on charges including breach of trust and violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, and is investigating him.
This is the first time Kim has been summoned by the prosecution since his release on the 7th of last month after the expiration of the six-month detention period in the first trial.
The prosecution is reportedly conducting a comprehensive investigation into the preferential treatment in the Daejang-dong development case involving Kim, the 5 billion won club allegations, and false interview suspicions.
Kim is suspected of having conducted a false interview on September 15, 2021, with Shin Hak-rim, former chairman of the Media Union, claiming that “Yoon Seok-yeol, then head of the Criminal Affairs Division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, personally met with Jo Woo-hyung and conducted a lenient investigation during the Busan Savings Bank probe,” and transferred 165 million won as a reward.
Kim has also been booked on charges related to the 'false interview suspicion,' including breach of trust, violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, and defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act.
The prosecution is investigating the so-called '42.8 billion won agreement suspicion,' which alleges that Kim promised to give part of the dividend profits from Cheonhwa-dongin No. 1 as a reward for preferential treatment to the camp of Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, in connection with the Daejang-dong case. Kim has denied these allegations during previous investigations.
The prosecution is also investigating the so-called '5 billion won club' allegations that Kim promised large sums of money as bribes to high-ranking figures in the legal and media sectors. Following the indictment and detention of former special prosecutor Park Young-soo in August, a reinvestigation is underway for former People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do, who was acquitted in the first trial.
Recently, the prosecution also received the case of former Supreme Court Justice Kwon Soon-il’s violation of the Attorney-at-Law Act from the police. Kwon is suspected of being involved when he overturned and remanded the case of Lee Jae-myung, then governor of Gyeonggi Province, on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act in July 2019, with a verdict of not guilty. It was also revealed that Kwon was appointed as an advisor to Hwacheon Daeyu, receiving a fee of 15 million won.
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