'Bribery Allegations' Incheon Namdong-gu Mayor's Arrest Warrant Reapplied... Suspicion of Land Purchase Cost Payment

Gangho Lee, Mayor of Namdong-gu, Incheon

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] The police have reapplied for an arrest warrant for Lee Gang-ho (54), mayor of Namdong-gu, Incheon, who is accused of bribery, after conducting supplementary investigations.

The Metropolitan Investigation Unit of the Incheon Police Agency on the 11th reapplied to the prosecution for an arrest warrant for Mayor Lee, who is accused of bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes and violations of the Political Funds Act.

Through about two months of supplementary investigation, the police reportedly reduced the amount involved in Mayor Lee's bribery crime from the initial 100 million won range to several tens of millions of won.

Earlier, the police had applied for Mayor Lee's arrest warrant in October last year, but the prosecution rejected it, asking for a review regarding some of the bribery charges.

At that time, the prosecution also rejected the arrest warrant for Mr. A, a teacher at a lifelong education facility in Incheon, who was accused of giving bribes and illegal political funds to Mayor Lee. The police did not reapply for Mr. A's arrest warrant on this day.

Mayor Lee is suspected of receiving a portion of the 4,141㎡ land in the Taean-gun area of Chungnam from Mr. A around 2015-2016, when he was a member of the Education Committee of the Incheon City Council.

According to the land registry, the land was jointly purchased by Mayor Lee and Mr. A, but the police believe that Mr. A paid several tens of millions of won on behalf of Mayor Lee for the land purchase costs. Except for 18㎡ of residential land, the rest of the land is farmland (paddy fields), and the price at the time was known to be about 110 million won.

The police also reportedly detected that Mayor Lee received several tens of millions of won in illegal political funds from Mr. A and used them for election expenses.

In April last year, a civic group in Incheon filed a complaint with the police, raising suspicions of real estate speculation against Mayor Lee, who purchased the land in question.

At that time, Mayor Lee explained, "I purchased the land jointly with Mr. A, with whom I had a friendly relationship, intending to farm in my old age and grew various crops such as soybeans, but after taking office as mayor in 2018, I had little time and stopped farming activities," and denied the speculation allegations as groundless.

Mayor Lee has completely denied the charges, stating that it was a financial transaction, not a bribe, not only during the police investigation but also in the pre-interview before the prosecution's request for an arrest warrant.

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