Prosecutors Seek Arrest Warrants for Kim Man-bae, Nam Wook, and Jeong Min-yong... Additional Charges of 'Breach of Trust' Against Yoo Dong-gyu

Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office investigating preferential treatment and lobbying allegations in the Daejang-dong development project. / Photo by Choi Seok-jin

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The prosecution, investigating allegations of preferential treatment and lobbying in the Daejang-dong development project, refiled an arrest warrant for Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu, on the 1st.

The prosecution also filed arrest warrants on the same day for lawyer Nam Wook, owner of Hwacheon Daeyu's subsidiary Cheonhwa Dongin No. 4, and lawyer Jeong Min-yong (former head of the Strategic Business Office at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation), on charges of complicity with former Seongnam Urban Development Corporation Planning Headquarters Director Yoo Dong-gyu.

Additionally, the prosecution filed additional charges on the 1st against former Planning Headquarters Director Yoo Dong-gyu, who was previously indicted and detained on bribery charges under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, for breach of trust and bribery after embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

The dedicated investigation team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (led by Deputy Chief Prosecutor Kim Tae-hoon) filed pre-arrest warrants on the morning of the same day for Yoo, along with Kim and lawyer Nam, who are collectively known as the "Daejang-dong Trio."

Previously, on the 12th of last month, the prosecution had filed an arrest warrant for Kim on charges including bribery, breach of trust, and embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, but the court dismissed it.

In the case of lawyer Nam, he was arrested and investigated at Incheon Airport upon returning from the United States in the early hours of the 20th of last month but was released without an arrest warrant being filed.

Kim, lawyer Nam, and lawyer Jeong were charged as accomplices to former Director Yoo.

Meanwhile, the prosecution additionally indicted former Director Yoo on charges of breach of trust and bribery after embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes on the same day.

The prosecution judged that in around 2015, while carrying out the public-private joint Daejang-dong development project, former Director Yoo conspired with Kim, lawyer Nam, accountant Jeong Young-hak, and others to collude in drafting the bidding guidelines to favor a specific private company (Hwacheon Daeyu, etc.), unfairly adjusted the scoring to ensure that company was selected as the preferred negotiator, and negotiated the distribution structure of development profits through business agreements and shareholder agreements to provide various preferential treatments, thereby causing the corporation to suffer damages by enabling the specific private company to obtain at least 65.1 billion KRW worth of land development dividends and significant implementation profits. This led to the application of breach of trust charges under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

Specifically, the corporation was to receive only fixed returns, but the expected land development profits subject to distribution were reduced (from over 15 million KRW per pyeong to 14 million KRW), and preferential treatment was concluded that excluded the corporation's profit recovery from the apartment and townhouse construction and sales profits on five blocks directly managed by Hwacheon Daeyu.

Furthermore, the prosecution applied bribery after embezzlement charges against former Director Yoo for allegedly receiving 500 million KRW (40 checks of 10 million KRW each and 100 million KRW in cash) from Kim around January 31 of this year as a bribe for the preferential treatment in the Daejang-dong development project.

After the dismissal of Kim's arrest warrant, the prosecution confirmed through witness statements and check tracking that checks issued by Kim were passed through former Director Yoo to lawyers Nam and Jeong.

Even on the previous day, a holiday, the prosecution summoned and investigated related parties, including former Seongnam Urban Development Corporation President Hwang Mu-seong, who claimed he was pressured to resign, and lawyer Jeong, conducting final preparations to file arrest warrants against them.

Whether the prosecution, which faced controversy over "inadequate investigation" after failing to secure the custody of Kim and lawyer Nam, will succeed in securing their custody this time is expected to be a turning point that will determine the success or failure of this investigation.

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