The prosecution and the defense of former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor for Peace Lee Hwa-young, who is on trial for alleged remittances to North Korea, are intensifying their battle over the so-called 'drinking party inducement' allegations that Lee exposed in court on the 4th.
On the 18th, Kim Kwang-min, the lawyer representing former Deputy Governor Lee (a member of the Democratic Party and Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly, who passed the bar exam on his fourth attempt), issued a 10-page statement titled 'Position of Lee Hwa-young’s Defense Counsel (Attorney Kim Kwang-min) on the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office Rebuttal dated April 17, 2024,' in which he countered the prosecution’s rebuttal from the previous day regarding Lee’s claims.
Earlier, on the last day of the trial on the 4th, former Deputy Governor Lee claimed in court that "around June last year, in the anteroom of the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office’s 1313 room, I drank with former Ssangbangwool Group Chairman Kim and former Vice Chairman Bang, who were co-indicted, and manipulated testimonies."
The Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office responded the day before by conducting a full investigation of 38 correctional officers who guarded Lee, investigating Ssangbangwool-related figures including former Chairman Kim Sung-tae and former Vice Chairman Bang Yong-cheol, who Lee claimed attended the drinking party, and reviewing food orders and attendance records. Based on these results, they stated, "Lee’s claims are clearly false," and warned, "If baseless false claims continue to be asserted as facts, we will consider legal countermeasures."
The day before, Lee’s defense team corrected the specific date and location of the drinking party to the place opposite the 1313 prosecutor’s office labeled as 'warehouse' and the testimony recording room inside the 1313 room, but the prosecution rebutted this as another inconsistent false claim.
Regarding the 'time of drinking,' Attorney Kim first stated, "The Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office claims the drinking occurred on June 30, 2023, but this is not true," adding, "Defendant Lee Hwa-young asserts that drinking took place immediately after the last defendant interrogation record was made on June 30, 2023 (he does not exclude the possibility it was the previous day due to imperfect memory). In other words, it was not on June 30, but after that date."
He further argued, "Since investigations continued until 10:10 p.m. on June 30, it was impossible to drink with Kim Sung-tae and others at that time, and looking at Lee’s attendance records, it is highly likely the drinking occurred on July 3, 2023."
He also proposed an additional location for the inducement or pressure besides the previously mentioned places: the prosecutor’s personal lounge.
Attorney Kim stated, "The inducement and pressure on defendant Lee Hwa-young were mainly carried out by Kim Sung-tae, Bang Yong-cheol, and their lawyers," and added, "Prosecutor OOO directly intervened after achieving significant results in inducement and pressure through Kim Sung-tae and others."
He continued, "The inducement and pressure through Kim Sung-tae and others mainly took place in three locations: ① the warehouse in front of room 1313, ② the testimony recording room connected to room 1313 (hereafter the testimony recording room), and ③ the prosecutor’s personal lounge connected to room 1313."
Attorney Kim explained, "Prosecutor OOO strictly controlled correctional officers’ access to the prosecutor’s lounge. When using the lounge, correctional officers stayed in the main room 1313, and Prosecutor OOO took defendant Lee into the lounge," adding, "Then Kim Sung-tae and Bang Yong-cheol, who were already waiting in the lounge, greeted Lee, and Prosecutor OOO left through the door leading to the corridor."
He added, "They deceived the correctional officers into believing that the prosecutor and defendant were together in the lounge," and argued, "By leaving only Kim Sung-tae and Lee together, they created an environment where Kim Sung-tae and others could induce and pressure Lee."
Regarding the prosecution’s rebuttal from the previous day that "no alcohol was brought into the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office building and drinking was physically impossible," Attorney Kim responded, "It is hard to imagine that the security checkpoint staff would refuse or record the refusal of items brought in by visitors under the prosecutor’s orders," and criticized, "It is unclear what 'physically impossible' means, but if it implies that one cannot pass through the security checkpoint, the prosecution must first prove that the security staff at Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office have the authority to firmly reject the prosecutor’s demands."
He also challenged the prosecution’s claim that "through Lee’s lawyer from the Democratic Party’s Legal Committee, it was confirmed that there was no such fact as Lee’s exposure," stating,
"The lawyers who accompanied defendant Lee during the investigation were Hyun Geun-taek, Seol Joo-wan, and Lee Han-i. Hyun Geun-taek was investigated early on for leaking investigation materials and could not continue accompanying the investigation. Lee Han-i joined the investigation from June 16, 2023, and is not a member of the Democratic Party’s Legal Committee. Therefore, the only lawyer from the Democratic Party’s Legal Committee involved in Lee’s investigation was Seol Joo-wan," he explained.
He continued, "However, as of June 2023, the problematic month, Attorney Seol Joo-wan only attended the 11th suspect interrogation on June 9, 2023, and resigned the next day, having no further involvement in the investigation," and criticized, "Claiming that after investigating Attorney Seol, who attended only one suspect interrogation, the Democratic Party’s Legal Committee lawyer also denied the possibility of drinking and testimony manipulation is absurd."
He added, "Moreover, Attorney Seol later criticized the Democratic Party, left it, and joined the 'New Future' party," and argued, "Therefore, inquiring with Attorney Seol, who is hostile to the Democratic Party, about the case of defendant Lee, a Democratic Party member, and denying the drinking based on that is a clear distortion of facts."
Regarding the prosecution’s argument that "since defendant Lee finished his testimony on June 30, 2023, there was no need to arrange a drinking party for inducement or pressure in early July, so the timing of the drinking party does not add up," Attorney Kim countered, "Even if the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office admits that nine suspect interrogation records for Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung were prepared by June 30, 2023, the prosecution’s objective is not yet complete," and explained, "If defendant Lee does not agree to use the evidence, the records cannot be utilized, so it was more important for the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office to secure Lee’s continued testimony after early July 2023, rather than by June 30."
Former Deputy Governor Lee was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined 1 billion won at the sentencing hearing on the 8th, and the verdict is scheduled for June 7. If a guilty verdict is issued against the former deputy governor, the prosecution is expected to proceed with indicting Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, who is currently under investigation as a suspect.
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