Investigation into Drinking Party Allegations Transferred to Police
Former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor for Peace, Lee Hwa-young, has filed a complaint with the police against the investigating prosecutor and Ssangbangwool employees. Lee claims that a drinking party intended to persuade her took place in the prosecution investigation room.
Kim Kwang-min, attorney for former Deputy Governor Lee, stated on the 25th, "Defendant Lee Hwa-young filed a complaint with the Suwon Southern Police Station in Gyeonggi Province against the investigating prosecutor and Ssangbangwool employees for violating the Act on the Execution of Sentences and Treatment of Prisoners (hereinafter referred to as the Execution of Sentences Act)." Attorney Kim submitted the complaint to the police on behalf of Lee on the same day.
In the complaint, former Deputy Governor Lee asserted, "Ssangbangwool employee A and other unidentified Ssangbangwool employees, at the request of Kim Sung-tae and with the permission or tacit consent of investigating prosecutor B, brought soju and other alcoholic beverages along with side dishes to Room 1313 of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office between 4 and 6 p.m. on an unspecified day in May or June last year and delivered them to Kim Sung-tae."
During last year's investigation into Ssangbangwool Group's alleged illicit remittances to North Korea, Lee initially denied the charges but later, around June last year during a prosecution interrogation, partially admitted to some allegations and testified that the remittances were reported to Governor Lee Jae-myung. She then retracted her statement, claiming that there was persuasion by the prosecution and Kim Sung-tae. She further alleged "a drinking party with salmon dishes and alcohol was set up in the prosecution investigation room, and she drank with Kim Sung-tae and others," asserting that this was an 'alcohol-based persuasion.'
The prosecution countered by stating that after reviewing the investigation records of related personnel such as the supervising correctional officers and the duty logs, "bringing alcohol into the building was impossible, so drinking was physically impossible." They also said, "The time, place, and occurrence of drinking as claimed by Lee Hwa-young have been inconsistent. It is a clear falsehood."
Following Lee Hwa-young's complaint against the investigating prosecutor and others, the police have begun to verify the facts regarding the 'drinking party in the investigation room' allegations. However, Article 133, Paragraph 2 of the Execution of Sentences Act, which Lee cited, punishes "persons who bring alcoholic beverages or other items into correctional facilities for the purpose of delivering them to inmates." Therefore, even if the claim of alcohol being brought into the prosecution office is true, it is uncertain whether this law can be applied for punishment. This is because correctional facilities under the law are defined as "prisons, detention centers, and their branches."
Attorney Kim responded, "We interpret that the prosecution investigation room, where correctional officers supervise, also broadly falls under the definition of a 'correctional facility.'" He added, "We request that the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office no longer be involved in the drinking party allegations. Defendant Lee Hwa-young has expressed her willingness to bear the punishment for false accusations if her claims prove to be untrue."
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