Prosecutors Conduct First Interrogation of Former Lawmaker Gwak Sang-do 12 Days After Arrest... Forced Summons

Former People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do is leaving the courthouse after completing his pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant hearing) presided over by Chief Judge Moon Sung-kwan of the Seoul Central District Court on the 4th.
Photo by Kim Dae-hyun

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The prosecution investigating the Daejang-dong development and lobbying allegations is forcibly summoning former People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do (63) on the 16th, 12 days after his detention.

The dedicated investigation team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Team Leader Kim Tae-hoon, 4th Deputy Prosecutor) is forcibly summoning former lawmaker Kwak, who is detained at Seoul Detention Center, for questioning this morning.

Former lawmaker Kwak is suspected of receiving 5 billion won (2.5 billion won after tax) in retirement pay and other fees through his son, who worked at Hwacheon Daeyu, in return for helping Hwacheon Daeyu form a consortium with Hana Bank for the Daejang-dong development project.

He is also accused of receiving 50 million won in illegal political funds around the April 2016 20th general election from lawyer Nam Wook, owner of Cheonhwa Dongin No. 4 (who has been arrested and indicted).

In late November last year, the prosecution requested an arrest warrant for former lawmaker Kwak on charges of bribery under the Specific Economic Crimes Act, but the court dismissed the warrant, stating, "There is room for dispute over the establishment of the crime, and the suspect's right to defense needs to be guaranteed, while the reasons, necessity, and appropriateness of detention have not been sufficiently demonstrated."

Afterward, the prosecution conducted supplementary investigations and added charges of bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes and violations of the Political Funds Act, which are in a hypothetical concurrence relationship with the bribery charge, and successfully obtained an arrest warrant for former lawmaker Kwak. However, Kwak, who was detained, did not respond to the prosecution's summons, preventing further progress in the investigation.

On the 14th, Kwak's side expressed strong dissatisfaction with the prosecution's investigation in a statement, saying that Kwak had already been sufficiently questioned by the prosecution and that since the prosecution had already reached a conclusion, there was nothing more to say.

At that time, Kwak's side stated, "The suspect interrogation records from two sessions exceed 230 pages, indicating that sufficient investigation has already been conducted by the prosecution."

They also claimed, "The prosecution did not even identify who the Hana Bank executive was, nor is there evidence of what kind of request the suspect made or what duties were related to the bribe, yet the arrest warrant application included almost false content to detain the suspect," and added, "The charge of violating the Political Funds Act also involved disguising legal fees as political funds."

They continued, "Since the prosecution has already reached a conclusion and sufficient investigation has been conducted, there is nothing more to say at the prosecution," and "We will prove the suspect's innocence in court." They also added, "We do not plan to request a detention review, as we want a swift indictment."

The prosecution applied for an extension of Kwak's detention warrant on the 10th and received approval from the court. Kwak's detention period is until midnight on the 23rd.

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