'Baekhyun-dong Lobbyist' Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison... Prosecution: "Special Privileges Provided Through Public Official Solicitation" (Comprehensive)

Geom "Reward for Public Official Favoritism"
Kim Inseop "Only Conveyed Opinions to Seongnam City"

The prosecution has requested a 5-year prison sentence for Kim In-seop, former CEO of Korea Housing Technology, who was indicted and detained last May on allegations of preferential treatment related to the Baekhyeon-dong development.

On the 15th, at the sentencing hearing held under the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 27 (Presiding Judge Kim Ok-gon), the prosecution asked the court to "sentence him to 5 years in prison and confiscate over 6.6 billion won."

Kim In-seop, former CEO of Korea Housing Technology, who was identified as a 'liaison lobbyist' related to the Baekhyun-dong development project, is attending the pre-arrest detention hearing at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 14th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The prosecution stated, "The defendant claims that the 7.7 billion won he received from Asia Developer Chairman Jeong Ba-ul was a legitimate distribution due to their partnership, but this was actually a bribe for public officials," adding, "While the defendant received enormous profits, Seongnam Urban Development Corporation suffered huge losses and the transparent selection of the developer was hindered."

After the prosecution's request, former CEO Kim made his final statement, saying, "I did not think that what I did at the time would be reported in the media and cause a stir," and "If there were any grievances, I only conveyed my opinions to Seongnam City; I never intended to receive preferential treatment through lobbying, nor did I think it would work even if I tried."

Kim is accused of receiving 7.7 billion won from Asia Developer Chairman Jeong Ba-ul as a bribe for facilitating permits for the Baekhyeon-dong development project from September 2015 to March this year. He is also accused of obtaining business rights for a lunchbox restaurant worth about 50 million won.

The prosecution believes that from April 2014 to February 2017, Kim lobbied Lee Jae-myung, then mayor of Seongnam and current leader of the Democratic Party, and Jeong Jin-sang, former political coordination officer at the Democratic Party representative office. Through this, Seongnam R&D PFV, operated by Chairman Jeong, secured the business rights.

Furthermore, during the project process, the prosecution judges that the approval was obtained through negative methods such as changing the donation targets, reducing the ratio of rental apartments, and illegally installing retaining walls, causing Seongnam Urban Development Corporation to suffer losses of 20 billion won.

Chairman Jeong is currently on trial after being indicted in June on charges of embezzling and breaching trust of 48 billion won from Seongnam R&D PFV and Asia Developer. Kim’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 13 next year.