Prosecutors Freeze 2.5 Billion KRW of Assets of Kwak Sang-do and Son in '5 Billion Club' Case

Approximately 2.5 billion KRW of assets belonging to former People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do and his family have been frozen in connection with the 'Daejang-dong 5 billion Club suspicion' case.

According to the legal community on the 9th, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kang Baek-shin) obtained an order for seizure preservation against Kwak's family at the Seoul Central District Court on the 6th and executed it.

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

Seizure preservation is a procedure that freezes suspected criminal proceeds so that the defendant cannot dispose of them arbitrarily until a guilty verdict is finalized. The frozen assets include about 1.4 billion KRW in deposits and bonds belonging to Kwak's family. Combined with the previously frozen approximately 1.1 billion KRW, the total amounts to 2.5 billion KRW. This is equal to the amount of 2.5 billion KRW (pre-tax 5 billion KRW) that Kwak Byung-chae, Kwak Sang-do's son, received as a performance bonus and other payments upon leaving Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management.

Kwak Sang-do and Byung-chae are accused of receiving approximately 2.5 billion KRW in bribes related to their duties as lawmakers around April 2021 (bribery under the Specific Crimes Act). They are also charged with concealing and disguising the money as Byung-chae's performance bonus, violating the Act on the Regulation of Concealment of Criminal Proceeds.

Kwak Sang-do is also accused of conspiring with Kim Man-bae in April 2016 to receive a total of 100 million KRW as a bribe for arranging a request from private businessman Nam Wook, who was on trial at the time, to have the prosecutor in charge amend the indictment (charges of mediation bribery under the Special Act and violation of the Political Funds Act).

A prosecution official said regarding the investigation into the prosecutor allegedly requested by Kwak, "Although the request was ultimately made and money was paid, the actual structure between former lawmaker Kwak and the prosecutor was not confirmed even after investigating related parties." He added, "Since the core elements of the charges against Kwak are the request and provision of money, we judged that the evidence is sufficient and proceeded with the indictment for now. We plan to further review the remaining parts and proceed with necessary actions."