Prosecution Submits Opinion to Court: "No Copying of Jeong Young-hak's Original Recording"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Ahead of the first trial on the Daejang-dong development preferential treatment and lobbying allegations case scheduled for the 10th at the court, the prosecution submitted a statement of opinion indicating that other defendants can view the audio files submitted by accountant Jeong Young-hak but cannot make copies of the originals.

According to the legal community on the 5th, the dedicated investigation team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Team Leader Kim Tae-hoon, 4th Deputy Chief Prosecutor) submitted a statement of opinion regarding the viewing and copying of accountant Jeong's audio files to the 22nd Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Yang Cheol-han) the day before.

The prosecution stated in the opinion, "Since the related investigation is ongoing and the files contain statements from third parties, there is a high risk of privacy infringement if leaked externally," adding, "Viewing can only be permitted for the progress of the investigation and trial."

They cited the Criminal Procedure Act provision that restricts the copying of special media such as audio tapes and computer disks to the minimum necessary extent. However, the prosecution's position is that transcripts of the recordings, not the original audio files containing the conversations, can be viewed and copied.

Accountant Jeong first appeared before the prosecution last September when the Daejang-dong allegations began to surface in earnest and submitted the audio files he possessed. The prosecution conducted the investigation based on these audio files. Naturally, the audio files became the "smoking gun" of the case.

Meanwhile, the prosecution is also reported to have expressed concerns in the statement of opinion regarding recent media reports on investigation details such as phone records of former Seongnam Urban Development Corporation Planning Director Yoo Dong-gyu. The forensic results of Yoo's mobile phone and other evidence documents have been attached to the Daejang-dong trial and provided to the defendants and their lawyers.

When pointed out as the source of the phone record leak the day before, the prosecution also stated, "We only provided the evidence records to the defendants through viewing and copying and did not arbitrarily leak them to the media or external parties."

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