Prosecution Indicts Kim Man-bae, Nam Wook, and Jung Young-hak on 65.1 Billion Won Embezzlement Charges in 'Daejang-dong Scandal'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The prosecution investigating the preferential treatment and lobbying allegations in the Daejang-dong development case on the 22nd indicted Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management (Hwacheon Daeyu), and lawyer Nam Wook, the owner of Cheonhwa Dongin No. 4, under detention.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office's dedicated investigation team (led by Deputy Chief Prosecutor Kim Tae-hoon) on the same day indicted Kim and lawyer Nam on charges including breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and bribery.

Accountant Jung Young-hak, the owner of Cheonhwa Dongin No. 5, who provided recorded statements to the prosecution in the early stages of the investigation, was also indicted without detention as an accomplice in breach of trust with them.

However, the so-called '50 Billion Club' and other political lobbying allegations were excluded from this indictment. The bribery charge related to the 5 billion KRW retirement pay of former lawmaker Kwak Sang-do's son, which was included in Kim's first detention warrant, was also excluded.

They are accused of conspiring with Yoo Dong-gyu (indicted under detention), former head of the Planning Headquarters at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, and lawyer Jung Min-yong, former head of the corporation's Strategic Business Office, to cause significant profits to Hwacheon Daeyu, thereby causing losses to the corporation.

The prosecution judged that Hwacheon Daeyu and Cheonhwa Dongin Nos. 1 to 7 enjoyed at least 65.1 billion KRW in land development dividend profits and at least 117.6 billion KRW in implementation profits. This amount excludes the implementation profit from the last block, which was completed for sale at the end of last month, so the total loss to the corporation amounts to several hundred billion KRW.

Kim is also charged with promising a bribe of 70 billion KRW to former head Yoo as a reward for preferential treatment during the project and embezzling 500 million KRW of company funds to deliver it. He is also accused of falsely registering acquaintances as Hwacheon Daeyu employees and embezzling 440 million KRW by paying them salaries.

Lawyer Nam is accused of embezzling 3.5 billion KRW of company funds and giving it as a bribe to lawyer Jung, who worked under former head Yoo as the head of the Strategic Investment Team.

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