'Rhyme Investigation Cover-up Allegation' Lee Gang-se "Met Blue House Senior Secretary but Never Gave Money"

Starmobility CEO Fully Denies Charges in First Trial... "Never Received Money from Kim Bong-hyun"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] Lee Kang-se, CEO of Star Mobility, who was arrested and indicted on charges of receiving money from Kim Bong-hyun, chairman of Star Mobility, by requesting a Blue House senior secretary to intervene and halt the Financial Supervisory Service’s audit of Lime, has completely denied the charges.

At the first trial held on the 3rd under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Division 11 of the Seoul Southern District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Hwan-seung), Lee’s defense attorney argued, "There are legal issues with all the charges raised by the prosecution, and the contents of the indictment differ from the facts."

Lee, a former president of Gwangju MBC and suspected of being a link between Lime and the political circle, was arrested and indicted in July on charges including embezzlement, instructing evidence concealment, and violation of the Attorney-at-Law Act under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

The prosecution believes that Lee met with the Blue House senior secretary for political affairs, whom he knew personally, to request a resolution of the Lime incident on behalf of Chairman Kim.

During the trial, the prosecution stated, "The defendant, while serving as CEO of Star Mobility, colluded with Chairman Kim in January to misuse 19.5 billion KRW from convertible bond payments received from Lime for purposes such as acquiring the Veterans Association’s mutual aid society," and “when critical media reports about Lime were published, he met with the Blue House senior secretary and received a shopping bag containing 50 million KRW in cash from Chairman Kim, intending to halt the Financial Supervisory Service’s audit of Lime,” outlining the charges.

However, Lee’s defense attorney claimed, "The prosecution indicted the defendant solely based on Kim’s testimony that he received 50 million KRW in cash, but he never received such money nor gave money to the Blue House senior secretary," adding, "Since he met the Blue House senior secretary for the benefit of his own company, Star Mobility, the charge of violating the Attorney-at-Law Act, which requires involvement in another’s affairs, does not apply."

He further stated, "The defendant held only a nominal CEO position at the time and was not involved in the actual management of the company," asserting that the embezzlement charge is legally unfounded.

Regarding the charge of attempting to conceal evidence during the prosecution’s search and seizure, the defense said, "He did not try to hide evidence related to Lime but rather evidence related to his own embezzlement criminal case," and argued, "Legally, this does not constitute evidence concealment."

Additionally, Lee’s defense submitted a bail application at the trial, arguing that there is no necessity for Lee’s detention.

Meanwhile, Kim Bong-hyun, chairman of Star Mobility, is scheduled to appear as a witness at the next trial on October 8.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.