Kim Man-bae's Warrant Hearing Ends After 2 Hours 30 Minutes... "Waiting for a Wise Decision"

Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management (Hwacheon Daeyu) and a suspect in the 'Daejang-dong scandal,' completed his pre-arrest detention hearing (warrant substantive examination) in about 2 hours and 30 minutes and left the court, stating, "I sufficiently explained through my lawyer."

On the afternoon of the 14th, around 1 p.m., Kim finished his warrant substantive examination held from 10:30 a.m. under the presiding of Judge Moon Seong-gwan, who is in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, and spoke to reporters as he exited.

He said, "I thoroughly explained through my lawyer. I will wait for the wise judgment of the court." Regarding the recorded statements submitted to the investigative authorities by accountant Jeong Young-hak, the owner of Cheonhwa-dongin No. 5, he reiterated that they "lack credibility." About what he said in his final argument, he conveyed, "I believe I sufficiently told the truth to the court."

Regarding the remarks made during the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee's Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office audit that "Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung is included in the scope of the prosecution's investigation," he said, "That is something the investigation team handles," adding, "and there are people who are not involved in this…"

After completing the warrant hearing, Kim will be transferred to Seoul Detention Center to await the decision on whether the warrant will be issued. After hearing the opinions of the prosecution and Kim's side, Judge Moon is expected to review the records and decide on the detention as early as late that night.

Earlier, the dedicated investigation team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (led by Deputy Chief Prosecutor Kim Tae-hoon) filed a detention warrant for Kim on the 12th. The charges listed in the warrant include bribery, breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, and embezzlement.

Kim is suspected of promising former Seongnam Urban Development Corporation Planning Director Yoo Dong-gyu (currently incarcerated) 25% (about 70 billion KRW) of the profits from the 2015 Daejang-dong development and receiving preferential treatment during the project selection process. He is also accused of paying 5 billion KRW as severance pay to Byung-chae, the son of Assemblyman Kwak Sang-do, who was a former senior secretary for civil affairs. The warrant also includes allegations that, in collusion with former Director Yoo, Kim caused losses of about 110 billion KRW to Seongnam Urban Development Corporation by arranging shareholder agreements so that the excess profits from the Daejang-dong development would go to Hwacheon Daeyu. The investigation team applied embezzlement charges for 5.5 billion KRW out of 47.3 billion KRW borrowed from Hwacheon Daeyu whose use has not been confirmed.

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