The prosecution investigating allegations of misconduct against Deputy Chief Prosecutor Lee Jeong-seop (currently a prosecutor at Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office) has conducted search and seizure operations at Lee's residence and at a forensic company handling the mobile phone of Lee's brother-in-law to secure relevant materials.
The Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Seung-ho) on the 30th searched Lee's residence, the residence of Lee's brother-in-law Jo, and the forensic company related to the case in which Lee is accused, securing mobile phone-related data.
It is known that the prosecution obtained items such as mobile phones found at Lee's residence and the recovered contents of Lee's brother-in-law's mobile phone, which were held by the forensic company.
Previously, Kang Mi-jung, spokesperson for the Justice Innovation Party and sister-in-law of Lee who raised the allegations of misconduct, claimed that evidence supporting various allegations was stored on Jo's mobile phone. These included circumstances where Lee, at Jo's request, checked the criminal records of golf course employees, instances of requesting golf course reservations for senior and junior prosecutors, and evidence suggesting the cover-up of a drug investigation involving Jo.
Spokesperson Kang stated that Jo had entrusted a forensic company with his mobile phone used between 2016 and 2018 to recover data, but the forensic company did not provide the recovered contents to Kang's side, citing that the user was not the phone's owner. Consequently, Kang's side urged the prosecution to secure the materials through lawful procedures such as search and seizure.
Separately from the prosecution's investigation, the Constitutional Court is currently conducting an impeachment trial of Lee, following the National Assembly's approval of the impeachment motion late last year. The Democratic Party also filed a complaint against Deputy Chief Prosecutor Lee with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), which summoned spokesperson Kang for questioning as a witness on the 25th of this month.
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