Police Launch 2nd Round of Daejangdong Investigation... Full-Scale Probe into City Council Members and Preferential Sales Begins

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Seongpil Cho, Byungseon Gong] With the detention and transfer of former Seongnam City Council Chairman Choi Yoon-gil, the police investigation into the Daejang-dong development lobbying and preferential treatment allegations has entered its second round. Until now, the police have focused on uncovering Choi’s bribery acts, but they now appear to be shifting the investigation toward the involvement of other Seongnam City Council members in corruption and the preferential apartment allocation allegations in Daejang-dong.

The Daejang-dong Allegations Special Investigation Team of the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency (Team Leader Kim Kwang-sik) transferred former Chairman Choi to the prosecution on the 27th on charges of bribery after wrongful acts. In February 2013, while serving as the chairman of the Seongnam City Council, he led the submission and passage of the ordinance establishing the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation at the plenary session. After stepping down from the chairmanship, he worked as an executive at Hwacheon Daeyu and is accused of receiving a performance bonus of 4 billion KRW from major shareholder Kim Man-bae and others as compensation for leading the ordinance’s passage.

The police had postponed investigating corruption allegations involving other Seongnam City Council members to focus on the bribery suspicion against former Chairman Choi. It is known that the police questioned Choi about possible involvement of others during his investigation. Given that Choi was promised a substantial performance bonus from Hwacheon Daeyu, his role is believed to have involved lobbying city council members.

After analyzing facts revealed and seized evidence during the investigation of former Chairman Choi, the police are expected to summon related individuals for questioning one by one. The recorded statements submitted to the prosecution by accountant Jung Young-hak, a key figure in the Daejang-dong development preferential treatment and lobbying allegations, include content that "3 billion KRW was delivered to the Seongnam City Chairman and 2 billion KRW to Seongnam City Council members." Accordingly, some city council members who supported the passage of the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation ordinance are being prioritized as investigation targets.

The investigation into preferential apartment allocation allegations in Daejang-dong is also expected to intensify. Previously, Hwacheon Daeyu directly implemented 5 blocks (4 apartment complexes and 1 townhouse) out of 15 blocks (12 apartment complexes and 3 townhouses) in the Daejang district, including the Prugio apartments. In the case of the Prugio apartments, Hwacheon Daeyu secured 24 units out of the remaining 45 units through sales and non-priority subscriptions as the developer’s share. Among these, one unit was revealed to have been allocated to the daughter of former special prosecutor Park Young-soo, sparking preferential treatment allegations.

The police are focusing on the fact that Hwacheon Daeyu no longer holds any units and plan to investigate based on who received the allocated units. So far, it is known that Jeong Jin-sang, deputy chief of the election campaign office and a close aide to Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, is residing in one of these apartments, but no involvement in preferential treatment allegations has been confirmed. Additionally, Kwak Byung-chae, son of former lawmaker Kwak Sang-do who received 5 billion KRW as severance pay from Hwacheon Daeyu amid preferential treatment controversies, is understood not to own any of these apartments.

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