Prosecutors Seek Arrest Warrants for Two Optimus Lobbyists... Reinforcement of Investigation Personnel (Comprehensive)

Assignment of Yoon Prosecutor General's Wife Case to Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2

Optimus Asset Management office, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The prosecution investigating the Optimus Asset Management (Optimus) fund fraud sales and lobbying allegations has requested pre-arrest warrants for two individuals who acted as key lobbyists for Optimus.

On the 5th, the Economic Crime Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Joo Min-cheol) announced that it had requested arrest warrants for Mr. Ki and Mr. Kim on charges including violation of the Attorney Act, breach of trust mediation, and violation of the Commercial Act.

In addition to the charges of receiving bribes in exchange for requests under the Attorney Act, the prosecution stated that additional charges related to voting rights at shareholders' meetings under the Commercial Act were applied, which were confirmed during the tracing of Optimus funds involving Mr. Ki and others.

The pre-arrest detention hearings for the two individuals are scheduled to be held on the 6th at 10 a.m., presided over by Judge Kim Tae-gyun of the Seoul Central District Court's warrant division.

The prosecution also announced that it has added one prosecutor from the Crime Proceeds Recovery Division of the Central District Prosecutors' Office to the Optimus investigation team and is providing additional support from the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1.

Furthermore, the prosecution indicted Mr. Lee, a director of the cosmetics company Skin&Skin, on charges including embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes for his involvement in Optimus's 'fund recycling' scheme, and he was arrested yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Central District Prosecutors' Office announced that it has assigned the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 to handle the cases related to the wife of Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, which were supervised by Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae. These include the complaint case regarding sponsorship funds from the exhibition planning company Kobana Contents and the complaint case concerning preferential stock trading allegations involving Deutsche Motors. Jeong Yong-hwan has been appointed as the chief prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2.

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