'Sponsor Allegations' Yoon Woo-jin Detention Hearing Ends... Silent to Reporters' Questions

Former Yongsan Tax Office Chief Yoon Woo-jin, who is accused of acting as a broker by receiving bribes from a businessman in exchange for quashing a tax investigation, is appearing at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the morning of the 7th for a pre-arrest detention hearing. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The pre-trial detention hearing (warrant review) for former Yongsan Tax Office Chief Yoon Woo-jin, who is accused of acting as a broker receiving bribes from businessmen, ended after about three hours.

On the afternoon of the 7th, former Chief Yoon finished his warrant review held from 10:30 a.m. under the presiding of Judge Lee Se-chang, who is in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, and left the courthouse. He did not respond to reporters' questions such as "How did you explain the charges?" or "Do you deny receiving 130 million won?"

After hearing the opinions of the prosecutors and former Chief Yoon's side, Judge Lee is expected to decide on whether to detain him as early as late that night after reviewing the records.

Former Chief Yoon is the elder brother of Yoon Dae-jin, Planning Director (Chief Prosecutor) at the Legal Research and Training Institute, who was a close aide to Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate. If the prosecution succeeds in securing former Chief Yoon's custody, the investigation is expected to expand to public officials who actually received the requests from him.

Earlier, the Anti-Corruption and Strong Crime Investigation Division 1 (Chief Prosecutor Jung Yong-hwan) of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office filed a pre-arrest warrant for former Chief Yoon on the 3rd.

Former Chief Yoon is accused of receiving money and goods from so-called "sponsors," including real estate developer A from the Incheon area, and introducing them to legal circles or tax authorities. The prosecution believes that former Chief Yoon received money and goods worth about 130 million won from A and two others in three installments from 2017 to last year. Additionally, the prosecution views that former Chief Yoon received money from a corporation last year as a fee for legal service mediation.

In a petition submitted to the prosecution at the end of last year, A claimed that from 2018 to 2019, former Chief Yoon was taken to meetings with current and former prosecutors and senior officials from the National Tax Service and police, where he repeatedly paid for meals and golf expenses. The prosecution summoned former Chief Yoon on the 1st of last month to question him about these allegations and conducted a confrontation investigation by summoning A together on the 18th of the same month. Choi, a close aide accused of conspiring with former Chief Yoon to pocket bribes, was indicted in detention last October.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Division 13 (Chief Prosecutor Lim Dae-hyuk) of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office is also investigating allegations that former Chief Yoon received golf entertainment and bribes from meat importers and others between 2010 and 2011, and that the prosecution suppressed the investigation by dismissing police search warrants at the time.

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