Prosecutors Request Arrest Warrants for Former Vice Minister Yoon Sung-won and Others on Charges of Real Estate Statistics Manipulation

Yoon Sung-won, Former 1st Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport [Image Source=Yonhap News]

On the 2nd, the prosecution filed arrest warrants for Yoon Seong-won, former 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Lee Moon-gi, former Administrator of the Administrative City Construction Agency, who are suspected of manipulating major national real estate statistics.

According to the legal community on the same day, the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office filed arrest warrants against former Vice Minister Yoon and former Administrator Lee on charges including abuse of authority and violation of the Statistics Act.

This is the first time since the prosecution began investigating in September at the request of the Board of Audit and Inspection that they have moved to secure the custody of those involved. The Board of Audit and Inspection claimed that during the Moon Jae-in administration, the Presidential Secretariat and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport forced the Korea Real Estate Board to manipulate statistical figures at least 94 times from 2017 to 2021, and requested investigations into a total of 22 people, including four former Presidential Chiefs of Staff (Jang Ha-sung, Kim Soo-hyun, Kim Sang-jo, and Lee Ho-seung).

Former Vice Minister Yoon served as the Presidential Secretary for Land, Infrastructure and Transport and as the 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport during the Moon Jae-in administration. Both former Vice Minister Yoon and former Administrator Lee are suspected of exerting undue influence on the Korea Real Estate Board to manipulate statistical figures and compel them to perform duties they were not obligated to do while serving as the 1st Vice Minister and Director of the Housing and Land Office of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, respectively.

However, it is reported that both denied the related charges during the prosecution's investigation.

Earlier, during the investigation into the statistical manipulation allegations, the prosecution summoned former Statistics Korea Commissioner Kang Shin-wook and former Presidential Economic Secretary Hong Jang-pyo as suspects for questioning. Additionally, following a raid on the Presidential Archives in October last year, a search was conducted on former Blue House Job Secretary Hwang Deok-soon in November.