Prosecutor General's Office: "There is a reason for rejecting Seongnam Branch FIU data request"... "Not blocking investigation"

Investigation authority adjusted to include cases where investigation supervision is not possible... Deemed procedural issues exist

Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo. / Photo by Jin-hyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The Supreme Prosecutors' Office clarified that it did not block the Seongnam Branch's request for financial information from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) last year during the investigation into the 'Seongnam FC sponsorship fund allegations,' contrary to reports that the Supreme Prosecutors' Office had rejected the request.

Initially, the case was reported to the prosecution and then referred to the police for investigation. However, due to the enforcement of the amended Prosecutors' Office Act, which adjusted the investigative authority between the prosecution and police, the Seongnam Branch attempted to request financial information even for cases it could no longer supervise, raising procedural issues. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office stated that this was a legitimate exercise of the Prosecutor General's authority to supervise investigations.

On the 28th, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said, "We would like to clarify the part of today's specific media report titled 'Naver's 4 billion KRW sponsorship to Seongnam FC, Supreme Prosecutors' Office blocked financial data investigation' and state that the claim that the Supreme Prosecutors' Office blocked the Seongnam Branch's request for financial information is completely untrue."

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office explained, "At the time, the Seongnam Branch requested financial information not only related to the criminal facts under its investigation but also including matters separately under police investigation (before the case was transferred). Since this raised procedural issues, we pointed out the need for reconsideration, which the Seongnam Branch accepted."

They added, "This was a proper exercise of the Prosecutor General's supervisory authority over field offices to ensure compliance with due process and is a duty that must be performed."

On the same day, Chosun Ilbo reported that in June-July last year, the Seongnam Branch tried to request financial data from the FIU regarding Naver's 4 billion KRW sponsorship to Seongnam FC, but the Supreme Prosecutors' Office rejected the request.

This investigation was separate from the case reported by the Bareunmirae Party in June 2018, which the police were investigating. The Seongnam Branch's investigation division was probing the process by which Naver transferred 4 billion KRW through 'Heemang Sallim,' operated by former Democratic Party lawmaker Je Yoon-kyung, rather than directly to Seongnam FC. Following the opinion of the Criminal Division 3, which supervised the investigation division, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park Ha-young of the Seongnam Branch sent a request for FIU data to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office with his authority, but it was rejected.

Former lawmaker Je is known as a close aide to Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, having served as a spokesperson for Lee's campaign during the 2017 presidential election. Heemang Sallim reportedly used 100 million KRW of the 4 billion KRW sponsorship received from Naver and passed the remaining 3.9 billion KRW to Seongnam FC. When opposition parties raised suspicions about this in 2018, Je denied wrongdoing, stating that the funds were used for debtor counseling, education fees, and purchasing non-performing loans, supported by a legal agreement.

The 'Seongnam FC allegations' originated in 2018 when the Bareunmirae Party filed a criminal complaint, alleging that while Lee was mayor of Seongnam and the club owner of Seongnam FC, he secured large sponsorship funds from companies in exchange for resolving their business issues.

After the Seongnam Ilhwa football team was rebranded as the citizen football club Seongnam FC and Lee became the club owner, six companies based in Seongnam?Doosan Construction (4.2 billion KRW), Naver (3.9 billion KRW), Nonghyup (3.6 billion KRW), Bundang CHA Hospital (3.3 billion KRW), Hyundai Department Store (500 million KRW), and Alphadom City (550 million KRW)?provided a total of 16.05 billion KRW to Seongnam FC from 2015 to 2017 under sponsorship and advertising fees.

In June 2018, the Bareunmirae Party filed a complaint accusing Lee of third-party bribery. Similar to how large corporations provided substantial donations to the Mir and K-Sports Foundations during former President Park Geun-hye's administration, it was alleged that these companies, owning major facilities in Seongnam, indirectly supported Seongnam FC as a means to expect issue resolution or specific administrative favors such as building permits or land use changes through Lee.

There were even allegations that some of the Seongnam FC sponsorship funds were deposited into related sports organizations in Seongnam and then withdrawn in cash.

On the same day, Dong-A Ilbo reported that at the time of the incident, close aides and family members of candidate Lee Jae-myung were employed in the sports organizations under Seongnam City and the department responsible for Seongnam FC sponsorship funds. The person in charge of external cooperation and sponsorship fundraising at Seongnam FC from 2015 to 2017 was confirmed to be the nephew of Lee, who was the president of the Seongnam City Football Association at the time. Lee was a close aide who served as the secretary-general of the Bundang Gap district committee when Lee Jae-myung ran for the Democratic Party in the 2008 general election.

The cases involving the six companies, including Naver, were investigated by the police following the prosecution's supervisory authority, while the Seongnam Branch was conducting an investigation only into Naver based on a separate complaint. However, as the police's handling of the cases was delayed and the amended laws adjusting investigative authority between the prosecution and police came into effect, the prosecution could no longer intervene in investigations referred to the police.

In this context, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office stated that it blocked the Seongnam Branch's attempt to request financial information from the FIU for all companies under police investigation at once, beyond the Naver case under its own investigation. Currently, following the complainant's objection, cases involving companies other than Naver have been returned to the prosecution.

After the Bareunmirae Party's complaint, the police took three years and three months before issuing a non-prosecution decision due to insufficient evidence in September last year. Subsequently, the Seongnam Branch took over the case following the complainant's objection but had not decided on whether to reopen the investigation even after four months.

Eunjeong Park, Chief Prosecutor of Seongnam Branch./Photo by Seongnam Branch Homepage Capture.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Chosun Ilbo reported in an article titled 'Seongnam FC sponsorship investigation department changed to sexual crime unit by Park Eun-jung' that "after the Supreme Prosecutors' Office rejected the Seongnam Branch's FIU data request, which was approved by Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park Ha-young, Seongnam Branch Chief Park Eun-jung took measures to reduce the functions of Criminal Division 3, which supervised the investigation division."

Criminal Division 3, which originally handled major cases such as special, public security, and corporate investigations, transferred these functions to Criminal Division 1 and 2, and was reorganized as a sexual crime unit, with some prosecutors reassigned accordingly.

Chosun Ilbo also reported that Chief Park assigned the review of the Seongnam FC case, which had been transferred to the Seongnam Branch following the complainant's objection, to Criminal Division 1 instead of Criminal Division 3, entrusting the case to a junior prosecutor, A, who is a university junior. Additionally, the FIU data request, initially approved by the deputy chief prosecutor, was changed to require the chief's approval following a revision of regulations.

This raises suspicion that even if the investigation team or Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park tried to re-request the FIU financial data, which was rejected by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office last year due to procedural issues, Chief Park may have blocked it. Media reports have alleged that Chief Park ignored reports from the investigation team and Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park calling for direct reinvestigation by the prosecution or supplementary investigation requests to the police, and exerted pressure to halt the investigation by taking case files.

However, Chief Park strongly denied the reports.

In a statement issued under the name of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Seongnam Branch on the same day, Chief Park said, "To prevent misinformation regarding today's Chosun Ilbo article on the Seongnam FC investigation, we inform that the assignment of responsibilities and prosecutors was balanced across divisions in line with the summer personnel reshuffle last August, reflecting the preferences of the chief prosecutors and all prosecutors. The Criminal Division 3 was assigned to handle direct investigations of drug and organized crime, and the prosecutor who handled the Seongnam FC case before the summer reshuffle continued to handle it after the reshuffle."

While acknowledging organizational changes and regulation revisions, Chief Park denied the report that the prosecutor in charge had changed.

The Seongnam Branch explained regarding the revision of approval regulations, "Reporting to the head of the institution on important investigations is natural regardless of delegated approval regulations. The adjustment of delegated approval regulations was made after the new chief took office as part of overall regulation maintenance, referencing other branches' regulations."

They also stated, "The chief personally reviewed over 8,500 pages across 28 volumes of investigation records from the investigation team and police, and all necessary supervisory instructions were documented in writing."

They added, "Due to differences in opinions with the investigation team, each review opinion was recorded as is to be reported to the higher prosecution office. While preparing the report, the deputy chief prosecutor resigned."

Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park Ha-young of the Seongnam Branch recently submitted his resignation and expressed his feelings on the internal prosecution network, iProS, stating, "I am leaving a little earlier than I thought. I tried to find other ways to continue working, but after much thought and response, there was no other way."

This has led to suspicions within and outside the prosecution that Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park and others reported the need for reinvestigation or supplementary investigation requests to the police, but Chief Park deliberately delayed decisions by stalling.

Park Eun-jung, who served as the Ministry of Justice's inspection officer during former Minister Choo Mi-ae's tenure and led disciplinary actions against then Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl before being promoted, is considered a representative pro-government prosecutor within the prosecution. Due to this, controversy arose suggesting that Chief Park intentionally blocked the investigation into this case involving the ruling party's presidential candidate, which may have led to Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park's resignation.

As suspicions spread, the Seongnam Branch stated in a press release, "The Seongnam Branch is reviewing the investigation records from the investigation division and police in accordance with laws and principles. The reports that the investigation was ordered to be closed or that supplementary investigation requests were blocked are not true, so we ask for careful reporting."

Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park's post on the 25th has received hundreds of supportive comments.

Chief Prosecutor Park Young-jin of the Uijeongbu District Prosecutors' Office wrote on iProS on the 26th, "People say that there are others who should resign, so why is Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park leaving? I share the same exact thought. If the goal of prosecution reform was to investigate or not investigate certain politically sensitive cases and to assign specific personnel to certain positions for that purpose, then that goal has already been achieved," criticizing the Moon Jae-in administration's prosecution reform and personnel practices.

He added, "I will not forget the values of professional conscience and political neutrality that you have personally demonstrated as a prosecutor."

Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo, upon receiving a face-to-face report from Suwon District Chief Prosecutor Shin Sung-sik the previous day, once again urged a thorough investigation into the exact circumstances surrounding the conflicts between the Seongnam Branch chief, deputy chief, and investigation team during the 'Seongnam FC allegations' case investigation.

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