It was reported on the 2nd that Lee Jae-myung, former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who was indicted on third-party bribery charges related to the 'Ssangbangwool illegal remittance to North Korea suspicion,' has submitted an application to the Supreme Court for consolidated jurisdiction over the land. The purpose is to have the trials, which are being held separately in Seoul and Suwon, consolidated and conducted at the Seoul Central District Court.
Lee Jae-myung, former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (center) / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@
Lee Jae-myung is currently facing three trials at the Seoul Central District Court, having been indicted separately for the Daejang-dong development corruption, Seongnam FC sponsorship fund suspicion, Baekhyeon-dong development preferential treatment suspicion, and perjury coaching suspicion. Among these, the cases for which Lee requested consolidated hearings include the Daejang-dong, Seongnam FC, and Baekhyeon-dong development preferential treatment suspicions.
According to the Criminal Procedure Act, when multiple related cases with different territorial jurisdictions are ongoing in different courts, the higher court (Supreme Court) may consolidate the trials into one court upon the request of the prosecutor or defendant.
The Supreme Court's schedule for reviewing Lee’s application has not yet been set.
However, the prosecution is expected to oppose Lee’s consolidation request. The illegal remittance to North Korea case occurred while Lee was serving as Governor of Gyeonggi Province, and Kim Seong-tae, former chairman of Ssangbangwool and a related figure, is already on trial at the Suwon District Court. Additionally, it should be considered that the cases currently being tried at the Seoul Central District Court are unrelated to the illegal remittance case.
Meanwhile, Lee’s third-party bribery case has been assigned to the 11th Criminal Division of the Suwon District Court. The 11th Criminal Division previously sentenced Lee Hwa-young, former Deputy Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province, who was detained and indicted on charges including bribery under the Special Act and violations of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, to a guilty verdict in the first trial. In its ruling, the court determined that Ssangbangwool paid a total of 8 million dollars to the North, including 5 million dollars for Gyeonggi Province’s smart farm expenses and 3 million dollars for Lee, then governor, to visit North Korea.
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