The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Agency (Gong-su-cheo) has indicted Prosecutor Lee Jeong-seop of the Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office without detention on charges of accessing and leaking the criminal records of private individuals, just one day before the statute of limitations expired.
On the 28th, the 4th Investigation Division of Gong-su-cheo (Chief Prosecutor Cha Jeong-hyun) announced that Prosecutor Lee was indicted without detention on charges of leaking official secrets.
Prosecutor Lee is accused of, while serving as the chief prosecutor of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office on March 30, 2020, accessing the criminal record of a housekeeper working at his brother-in-law's home through a junior prosecutor and informing his sister-in-law, Kang Mi-jeong (currently spokesperson for the Jo-guk Innovation Party), through his wife.
Earlier, the 1st Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Kim Seung-ho) indicted Prosecutor Lee without detention on the 6th on charges including violation of the Resident Registration Act and the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, and transferred the case regarding Lee's official secret leakage to Gong-su-cheo. Gong-su-cheo conducted searches and seizures at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office from the 21st to the 24th, and additionally searched the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the 26th.
Gong-su-cheo stated, "After comprehensively reviewing the materials and testimonies secured through the investigation, the confirmed facts, and precedents, it was determined that the defendant's crime of leaking official secrets is established." It also added, "Before filing the indictment, the Prosecution Deliberation Committee was held and unanimously resolved that filing the indictment was appropriate," and "We will also make every effort to maintain the prosecution going forward."
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