A Dedicated Investigation Team Likely to Be Formed for 'Optimus Lobby Suspicion'... Financial Authorities to Prioritize Lobbying Investigation First

Prosecutors in the Investigation Team Doubled from 9 to 18
Additional Deployment of Certified Public Accountants and Special Prosecutors... Likely to Handle Lobbying Investigations
Four More Added to Central District Prosecutors' Cooperation, Violent Crimes, Criminal, and Trial Divisions
Investigation Focused on Lobbying Against Financial Supervisory Service

On July 20, victims of the Optimus Fund NH Investment & Securities held a protest rally in front of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation in Jung-gu, Seoul, demanding compensation for the Optimus Fund damages. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The prosecution has assembled a task force for investigating lobbying suspicions by deploying a large number of prosecutors with special investigation experience in accounting and other fields to the Optimus case.

The prosecution, having expanded and reorganized the investigation team, is expected to first focus its investigative efforts on the lobbying activities targeting financial authorities.

According to the prosecution on the 15th, the Optimus investigation team, which was originally composed of nine members centered on the Economic Crime Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Joo Min-cheol), received five prosecutors on a temporary duty basis from the Ministry of Justice yesterday.

Additionally, four prosecutors were added from within the Central District Prosecutors' Office?one each from the Fair Trade Investigation Division, the Violent Crime Division, the Criminal Division, and the Trial Division?expanding the investigation team to a total of 18 prosecutors.

Among the five prosecutors dispatched with approval from other agencies by Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae, the most notable figure is Nam Jae-hyun, a prosecutor at the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office. Before his appointment, Prosecutor Nam obtained a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license, worked at Samil Accounting Corporation, and served in the Financial Supervisory Service’s accounting supervision and investigation departments. Recently, he prosecuted Heo In-hoe, former chairman of the Green Dream Cooperative, who was known as the "godfather of the activist group."

Another dispatched prosecutor, Choi Jae-soon of the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, is a special investigator who was assigned to the Special Investigation Headquarters for the 2016 political scandal and the Park Young-soo special prosecution team. He investigated the DAS ownership suspicions involving former President Lee Myung-bak. Nam Dae-joo, a prosecutor at the Suncheon branch of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office, investigated the accounting fraud allegations related to Samsung BioLogics.

The most senior among the five is Choi Jong-hyuk of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office, who is a junior alumnus of Jeonju High School to Seoul Central District Prosecutor General Lee Sung-yoon. They previously worked together when Lee served as head of the Anti-Corruption Division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and Choi was a research prosecutor.

Initially, the Central District Prosecutors' Office planned to receive about four prosecutors from other agencies and reportedly sent a candidate pool of about ten, roughly twice the number, to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. However, Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol ordered a significant increase in the investigation team, and the Ministry of Justice ultimately decided on dispatching five prosecutors. A Ministry of Justice official stated that additional dispatches may occur depending on the progress of the investigation.

Based on the reinforced personnel, the investigation team is expected to form a dedicated unit to investigate Optimus's lobbying suspicions involving political and government circles. A prosecution official said, "The existing investigation team has been focusing on the flow of funds, such as conducting searches of entrusted companies, so the newly assigned prosecutors are likely to handle the lobbying aspects."

The lobbying investigation is expected to initially concentrate on Optimus's lobbying activities toward financial authorities, some of which have already been revealed.

The prosecution is paying attention to the fact that Optimus, which was so insolvent that it faced capital shortage issues until 2018, was able to raise 1.2 trillion won from nearly 3,000 investors without facing significant sanctions.

They believe there is a high possibility that financial authorities granted special favors and related financial companies provided conveniences during various inspections, business approvals, fund establishment, and management processes.

Besides Yoon, a former director at the Financial Supervisory Service who was summoned for investigation on suspicion of receiving tens of millions of won in exchange for introducing financial figures to Optimus CEO Kim Jae-hyun, the prosecution is investigating whether other Financial Supervisory Service officials provided favors after receiving requests from Optimus.

In particular, the prosecution is focusing on the possibility that Yang Ho, former president of Nara Bank and the largest shareholder of Optimus, exerted pressure on the Financial Supervisory Service and others by mobilizing his financial sector connections.

If the lobbying activities of Optimus are confirmed to some extent, the investigation into lobbying suspicions involving political circles, raised through internal documents, is also expected to gain momentum.

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