Prosecution Transfers Case to Corruption Investigation Office Involving Former Prosecutor General Yoon Dae-jin and Others over 'Kim Hak-ui Illegal Departure Investigation Interference'

Signboard of the High-ranking Officials Crime Investigation Agency at the Government Gwacheon Complex. / Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The prosecution transferred the cases involving prosecutors suspected of exerting pressure on the investigation into Kim Hak-ui's illegal departure to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) on the 13th.

The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office's investigation team for Kim Hak-ui's illegal departure case (led by Lee Jeong-seop, Head of Criminal Division 3), which is investigating the case, transferred the cases of three individuals?Yoon Dae-jin, former Director of the Prosecutor's Office at the Ministry of Justice; Lee Hyun-cheol, former Chief Prosecutor of the Anyang Branch of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office; and Bae Yong-won, former Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Anyang Branch?to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) on the same day.

These three individuals are known to appear in the indictment of Lee Seong-yoon, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, who was previously indicted on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of justice for exerting pressure on the Anyang Branch investigation team that uncovered misconduct by Lee Gyu-won, then a prosecutor of the Past Affairs Investigation Division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and officials from the Ministry of Justice's Immigration Inspection Department in June 2019.

Therefore, at present, they can be considered as persons involved in the investigation or as subjects under investigation, but there remains the possibility that their status may change to suspects as the investigation progresses.

The prosecution stated that this action was taken in accordance with Article 25, Paragraph 2 of the Corruption Investigation Office Act, which stipulates that "when an investigative agency other than the CIO discovers allegations of corruption involving a high-ranking public official prosecutor, the head of that investigative agency must transfer the case to the CIO."

The CIO stated, "The case files of the three individuals related to the Kim Hak-ui illegal departure investigation are expected to arrive soon," adding, "After securing the records, detailed review such as case analysis will follow."

Regarding whether the CIO will directly investigate these cases or re-transfer them back to the prosecution, the CIO added, "We will decide the course of action after reviewing whether there is a risk of fairness controversy and the content of the cases."

The CIO and the prosecution are embroiled in conflict over the 'transfer' of the cases.

Previously, the CIO re-transferred the cases of Chief Prosecutor Lee and Prosecutor Lee, which the prosecution had transferred, back to the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, requesting a "transfer with reserved prosecution rights" so that the CIO could decide on prosecution after the investigation was completed.

However, the prosecution judged that since the subject of transfer is the "case," it is impossible to transfer only investigative authority while reserving prosecution rights, and thus did not accept the CIO's request, directly indicting the two individuals.

After the controversy grew following the prosecution's indictment of Prosecutor Lee, the CIO codified and announced this type of reserved transfer in the CIO's case handling regulations.

However, the prosecution holds the position that the CIO cannot regulate matters related to citizens' fundamental rights or relations with other agencies through internal case handling procedures or regulations.

Therefore, with the CIO delaying the decision on whether to re-transfer another case involving Prosecutor Lee?the "false preparation and leakage of the Yoon Joong-chun interview report" case?there is also speculation that the CIO may directly investigate the three cases or transfer them to the police.

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