Submitted to the court on the 30th of last month
The Lee Jae-myung camp of the Democratic Party of Korea, who has been indicted on third-party bribery charges related to 'Ssangbangwool's remittance to North Korea,' has requested the court to reassign the trial panel.
Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung is leaving the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, after the first trial sentencing hearing related to perjury instruction charges concluded on the afternoon of the 30th of last month. [Photo by Yonhap News]
According to the legal community on the 3rd, the law firm S, representing Lee, submitted an "Opinion on the Progress of the Trial Procedure" (request for reassignment) to the court on the 30th of last month. Lee's remittance case to North Korea was assigned to the Criminal Division 11 of Suwon District Court (Chief Judge Shin Jin-woo), and a preparatory hearing was held once on August 27.
At Suwon District Court, the Criminal Divisions 11 and 14 handle corruption cases. As a result of assigning cases in order, the Criminal Division 11, which previously sentenced former Gyeonggi Province Peace Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young, who was indicted and detained on charges including violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, was assigned Lee's case. It is not known why Lee's side submitted the request for reassignment, but it is interpreted as a request to assign the case to a different panel than Criminal Division 11, which recognized the charges related to Lee Hwa-young's remittance to North Korea.
In the first trial against former Deputy Governor Lee, Criminal Division 11 judged that Ssangbangwool paid a total of 8 million dollars on behalf of Gyeonggi Province to the North, including 5 million dollars for the Gyeonggi Province smart farm expenses and 3 million dollars for the then-Governor Lee's visit to North Korea.
Lee's side is expected to express their opinion on the reassignment request at the second preparatory hearing scheduled for the 8th of this month. Unlike a general trial date, the preparatory hearing does not require the defendant's attendance, so Lee is not expected to appear in court, as was the case at the first preparatory hearing.
In July this year, Lee's side requested the Suwon District Court to consolidate the remittance case with the Daejang-dong and Baekhyeon-dong development corruption and Seongnam FC sponsorship allegations currently being tried at the Seoul Central District Court, but the Supreme Court dismissed the request. Lee is accused of conspiring with former Deputy Governor Lee to have former Ssangbangwool Group Chairman Kim Seong-tae pay 5 million dollars from January to April 2019 for the 'Hwanghae Province Smart Farm Support' project, which Gyeonggi Province had promised to pay North Korea. He is also accused of having Kim pay 3 million dollars from July 2019 to January 2020 for the governor's visit protocol expenses requested by the North Korean side.
The prosecution believes that Lee and others promised Kim the 'support and guarantee of Gyeonggi Province for Ssangbangwool Group's business with North Korea' in return.
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