Court Detains Businessman Close to Yoon Woo-jin on Charges of Violating Attorney Act... "Fear of Evidence Tampering"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] A businessman close to former Yongsan Tax Office chief Yoon Woo-jin was arrested on the 2nd on charges including violation of the Attorney-at-Law Act.

Chief Judge Choi Chang-hoon of the Seoul Central District Court conducted a pre-arrest interrogation of Mr. Choi on the same day and issued an arrest warrant, citing concerns over evidence destruction and flight risk.

Earlier, the Anti-Corruption and Strong Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Jeong Yong-hwan) reported that Mr. Choi received over 600 million won in several installments from Mr. A, a real estate developer in the Incheon area, under the pretext of various permit lobbying, and requested an arrest warrant on charges of violating the Attorney-at-Law Act.

The prosecution believes that among these payments, a 100 million won check was received together with former Yongsan Tax Office chief Yoon Woo-jin.

However, Mr. Choi is known to have claimed to the prosecution that he was not involved in the 100 million won check and that it was a personal financial transaction between former chief Yoon and Mr. A.

He also claims that another 200 million won was indeed received from Mr. A but as a kind of service fee, not under the pretext of a request.

The prosecution plans to track whether the money was actually handed over to local officials under the pretext of lobbying.

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