The Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office, which is investigating allegations of "salmon and liquor party bribery" raised during the "Ssangbangwool remittance to North Korea" case, has moved to secure the custody of former executives of the Ssangbangwool Group and An Busu, President of the Asia-Pacific Peace Exchange Association.
According to legal sources on December 6, the Human Rights Violation Inspection Task Force (TF) of the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office filed arrest warrants the previous day for Bang Yongcheol, former Vice Chairman of Ssangbangwool, Park (full name undisclosed), former Director, and President An, on charges including embezzlement and breach of trust in the course of their work.
Prosecutors suspect that the Ssangbangwool side provided various favors to An and his family in exchange for changing his testimony. Allegations include not only paying An’s legal fees but also providing a residential officetel to his child and granting special treatment such as employment at the company.
Previously, An was sentenced to one year and six months in prison on February 2 in the appellate court for conspiring with Kim Seongtae, former Chairman of Ssangbangwool, to send hundreds of millions of won in foreign currency to North Korea.
The Task Force is also investigating suspicions that there was inducement to change testimony during the investigation into the Ssangbangwool remittance case. When An was first detained in 2022, he testified to prosecutors that "the 8 million dollars allegedly provided by Ssangbangwool to North Korea was for Ssangbangwool’s investment and stock price manipulation," but later changed his statement to say it was "money for the visit to North Korea by Gyeonggi Province and then-Governor Lee Jaemyung."
The pretrial detention hearings for the suspects, including the former Vice Governor, are expected to be held early next week.
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