Police Investigate Lee Yong-gu, Deputy Minister of Justice, as Complainant in 'Evidence Tampering Instruction' Case

Lee Yong-gu, Deputy Minister of Justice, attended the plenary meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee held at the National Assembly on December 22 last year, wiping sweat as if feeling tense. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] Regarding the allegations of a botched investigation into the 'taxi driver assault' involving Vice Minister of Justice Lee Yong-gu, the police will summon the head of the civic group who filed a complaint against the vice minister for questioning.

According to the police on the 25th, the Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency plans to summon Lee Jong-bae, the representative of the Action Alliance for the Restoration of the Rule of Law (Beopse-ryeon), as a complainant for questioning on the afternoon of the 26th.

Previously, Beopse-ryeon had filed a complaint against Vice Minister Lee on charges of instructing evidence destruction. The group stated, "Vice Minister Lee suggested to the taxi driver to delete the taxi black box footage capturing the assault scene, which constitutes instructing evidence destruction," and submitted the complaint to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the 25th of last month. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office assigned the case to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office earlier this month, and on the 11th, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office transferred it to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency for investigation.

Vice Minister Lee allegedly assaulted a taxi driver who woke him up while intoxicated in front of his apartment in Seocho-gu, Seoul, around 11:40 p.m. on November 6 last year. However, the police did not book Vice Minister Lee and closed the case as a preliminary investigation. During the process, the investigating officer reportedly said, "Let's assume the black box footage was not viewed," which sparked controversy over a botched investigation. Consequently, the police formed a joint fact-finding team and launched an investigation.

The fact-finding team recently booked Sergeant A of the Seocho Police Station, who was in charge of the investigation at the time, on charges of special dereliction of duty under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes and is currently investigating.

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