Prosecutors Ban Song Young-gil from Meetings Except with Lawyer to Prevent Evidence Tampering

'Money Envelope Exchange' Lawmaker Seems to Anticipate Investigation
Song's Wife Objects, "Even Jeon Du-hwan's Family Was Allowed Visits"

The prosecution has imposed a restriction on visits other than by legal counsel for Song Young-gil, the former Democratic Party leader who was arrested on suspicion of distributing money envelopes during the Democratic Party leadership election.

According to the legal community on the 19th, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Choi Jae-hoon) has taken measures to prevent Song, who is detained at Seoul Detention Center, from meeting with anyone other than his lawyer, including family and acquaintances. A prosecution official stated, "It is common to impose visitation bans on detained suspects when there is a concern about evidence destruction."

Song Young-gil, former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea [Image source=Yonhap News]

Former leader Song Young-gil was arrested the previous night on charges of receiving 60 million won in off-the-books election funds while running the Democratic Party leadership campaign in March 2021, and handing out money envelopes totaling 66.5 million won to incumbent lawmakers and regional headquarters chiefs. He is also accused of receiving illegal political funds amounting to 763 million won through an external support organization he established between 2020 and 2021 called the "Peace and Livelihood Issues Research Institute (Meoksayeon)."

The prosecution's measure is interpreted as an effort to prevent the possibility of evidence destruction, such as coordinating statements with outside parties, since additional investigations remain, including identifying lawmakers who received money envelopes. The prosecution is expected to conduct a detention investigation of Song for up to 20 days to specify the charges, while accelerating investigations into Democratic Party lawmakers suspected of receiving money envelopes.

The prosecution has previously announced that once the investigation of Song is somewhat completed, they will consider summoning the lawmakers who received the money envelopes. It is expected that investigations, including summons, will begin with seven lawmakers?Lee Sung-man, Lim Jong-sung, Heo Jong-sik, Kim Young-ho, Park Young-soon, Lee Yong-bin, and Yoon Jae-gap?who were suggested to have possibly received money envelopes during the trial witness examinations of independent lawmaker Yoon Kwan-seok and others.

Meanwhile, in response to the prosecution's visitation ban, Song Young-gil's wife, Nam Young-shin, expressed opposition through the YouTube channel "Song Young-gil TV," saying, "Even during the dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan, family visits were allowed and books were permitted to be brought in, so what is this about?" and earnestly requested, "I sincerely ask for your help."