Prosecutors: "Kim Man-bae bribed Gwak Sang-do and his son to block allegations in Daejang-dong case"

The prosecution has determined that private businessman Kim Man-bae gave a large bribe to former People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do to silence the political circle and the media regarding the Daejang-dong development project. In particular, the prosecution stated in the indictment that Kim was concerned about the exposure of the Daejang-dong allegations when Lee Jae-myung, then governor of Gyeonggi Province and now leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, emerged as a strong presidential candidate more than a year before the presidential election.

Former People Power Party lawmaker Gwak Sang-do. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

The bribery charges appear to be based on the perspective that former lawmaker Kwak’s '50 Billion Club' allegations were part of Kim’s attempt to conceal corruption in the Daejang-dong development project.

According to Yonhap News Agency and legal circles on the 8th, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office specified the details of how Kim delivered bribes to former lawmaker Kwak and his son when it filed additional charges against Kwak on the 31st of last month. This was not included in the indictment filed in February last year.

The prosecution included evidence confirmed through supplementary investigations, such as specific circumstances, related contexts, and statements from Kwak and his son as well as other involved parties, in a 21-page indictment. The prosecution stated, "Kim Man-bae, expecting conveniences such as the suppression of the People Power Party’s real estate special committee’s investigation into the Daejang-dong development project, blocking suspicions raised by the political circle and the media, and exerting influence over related criminal cases, agreed with former lawmaker Kwak and his son to pay 5 billion won at once, disguised as a performance bonus for his son, which had been discussed previously."

As background, the prosecution cited the Supreme Court’s October 2020 ruling acquitting Lee Jae-myung of charges of violating the Public Official Election Act, and the March 2021 real estate speculation allegations involving employees of the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH).

After Lee emerged as a leading Democratic Party presidential candidate following the acquittal, interest in the Daejang-dong project, promoted as his achievement, increased, and Kim feared that the astronomical profits of private businessmen would be revealed. Subsequently, as the People Power Party formed a real estate special committee following the LH scandal, Kim gave bribes to former lawmaker Kwak, who was involved in the committee’s duties, to seek help in diverting attention elsewhere.

The prosecution also presented circumstances suggesting that former lawmaker Kwak and his son Byung-chae conspired to receive bribes. The indictment states that in March-April 2021, Byung-chae made phone calls to Kwak during meetings where contracts were drawn up to increase the performance bonus from 500 million won to 5 billion won and where inflated work performance reports were prepared. In April 2020, when Byung-chae asked Kim about how he would handle the money promised to his father, Kim reportedly replied that he would pay it in several installments, according to the prosecution.

Furthermore, the prosecution found that in 2015, Kim visited Kwak’s home to propose Byung-chae’s employment at Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, and the father and son accepted in turn. When Byung-chae resigned five months after joining, he was paid three months’ severance pay despite not meeting the requirements, and from 2016 to 2019, he received 32 million won in support for graduate school tuition fees, the prosecution revealed.