Former Chairman Choi Yoon-gil Transferred in Custody on 4 Billion Won Bribery Charges Related to Hwacheon Daeyu

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Choi Yoon-gil, former chairman of the Seongnam City Council, who was arrested on charges of receiving promises of money and goods from Hwacheon Daeyu in exchange for assisting the development during the Daejang-dong development process in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, will be handed over to the prosecution on the 27th.

The Daejang-dong Allegation Special Investigation Team (Team Leader Kim Kwang-sik) of the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency will transfer former Chairman Choi, who is accused of bribery after misconduct, to the prosecution on the morning of the same day. Former Chairman Choi is suspected of receiving bribes, including a performance bonus of 4 billion KRW, in return for helping Hwacheon Daeyu by passing the ordinance to establish the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation for the public-private joint development of Daejang-dong during his tenure as city council chairman in 2013.

Earlier, the police had obtained an arrest warrant from the court on the 18th and continued the investigation. Former Chairman Choi’s arrest was the first case of detaining a suspect since the police began investigating the Daejang-dong case. It is reported that he denied the charges during police questioning. When he was summoned for investigation by the police in November last year, he showed displeasure when asked by reporters, "Is it true that there are rumors you also received a vehicle?" by replying, "Why are you doing this? You’re writing fiction."

When the Daejang-dong allegations first surfaced last year, the police and prosecution started investigations simultaneously, but due to concerns about overlapping investigations, they coordinated and from December of the same year, the police have been investigating three cases related to former Chairman Choi and Seongnam City Council members: corruption allegations, preferential apartment sales in Daejang-dong, and related matters. With the arrest and transfer of former Chairman Choi, the remaining cases for the police are the corruption allegations against Seongnam City Council members and the preferential apartment sales in Daejang-dong.

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