Two suspects of development corruption scandal arrested

Nov 05, 2021, 09:30 am

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Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party (DP), arrives at the Korea Exchange in Seoul on Nov. 4, 2021./ Source: National Assembly Joint Press

AsiaToday reporter Kim Hyun-goo

Investigation into Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party (DP), is inevitable as a Seoul court on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for Kim Man-bae, owner of Hwacheon Daeyu, and lawyer Nam Wook, owner of Hwacheon Daeyu affiliate Cheonhwa Dongin No. 4, on charges of breach of trust and bribery in connection with the Daejang-dong land development.

The Seoul Central District Court decided to issue an arrest warrant for Kim after holding a hearing Wednesday. The court ruled that Kim posed a flight risk and could destroy evidence.

The court also issued an arrest warrant for Nam Wook. However, it rejected prosecutors’ warrant request for lawyer Chung Min-yong, saying that there was no risk of destroying evidence.

Observers say the warrant for Chung was dismissed because he has taken a cooperative attitude with the prosecution’s investigation.

Initially, many believed that even if the two key suspects were arrested, there could be a dispute over their allegations of breach of trust. This is because it is difficult to prove the alleged breach of trust and there is a lot of room for legal disputes. For this reason, many believed that bribes and embezzlement charges, which the investigative team specified in the arrest warrant request, would be recognized while proving the allegation of breach of trust would take more time.

However, as the investigation team succeeded in substantiating the criminal charges against Kim, many believe that reducing the amount of breaches and making the charges concrete was effective. Besides, it seems that the calculation of the amount of breach of trust and the tracking of funds have reached a level that is acceptable to the court.

The remaining task of the investigation in relation to the allegation of breach of trust is finding who decided to carry out the Daejang-dong project. Therefore, the investigation is expected to head toward the superior of Seongnam Development Corp., and Seongnam City. Above all, attention is now on when the prosecution would start investigation into presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, who has been excluded from the probe.

Many believe that an investigation into candidate Lee is inevitable. Lee, who was mayor of Seongnam by then, actually signed official documents related to Daejang-dong several times, and is also suspected to being informed of the competition guidelines from Chung.

Speaking to the reporters outside the court before his arrest warrant review on Wednesday, Kim said, “My and my company merely followed Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung’s business policy at the time.” Kim even claimed that Lee has contributed to making the structure of the Daejang-dong project.

Previously, the investigation team reportedly did not mention Lee Jae-myung in the arrest warrant requests for Yoo and Kim. However, the investigation team is forced to examine whether Lee is responsible or not as the suspicion of his involvement is constantly being raised.

#Daejang-dong #Lee Jae-myung #prosecution #Kim Man-bae #Nam Wook