'50 Billion Won Retirement Pay from Hwacheon Daeyu' Kwak Sang-do's Son, Third Prosecutor Summons Investigation

Former lawmaker Kwak Sang-do sitting in a vehicle after the warrant hearing at the Seoul Central District Court on the afternoon of the 4th of last month.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] Byeong-chae Kwak, the son of former lawmaker Sang-do Kwak, who has been suspected of receiving tens of billions of won in severance pay after working at Hwacheon Daeyu, was summoned for the third time for prosecution investigation.

According to the legal community on the 14th, the dedicated investigation team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Team Leader Kim Tae-hoon, 4th Deputy Prosecutor) summoned Kwak as a suspect and questioned him. The prosecution, which investigated Kwak twice in October last year, reportedly summoned him again, judging that additional investigation was necessary regarding the raised suspicions.

The prosecution believes that former lawmaker Kwak helped Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, the developer of the Daejang-dong project, form a consortium with Hana Bank around 2015. The allegation against Kwak is that he received 5 billion won (2.5 billion won after tax) through his son as a reward.

Kwak is also mentioned in the recorded conversations between Kim Man-bae and accountant Jung Young-hak. Kim and Jung are the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu and the owner of Cheonhwa Dongin No. 5, respectively. In the recordings, when Kim asks Byeong-chae Kwak, "What does your father want?" Kwak replies, "What will you do with the money that was supposed to be given to my father?" There is also content where Kim says, "What if you give it all at once? Then it would be more than Executive Director Yang (Hwacheon Daeyu executive), so you should cut it into one or two or three times and give it through you."

The first preparatory hearing for former lawmaker Kwak is scheduled to be held on the morning of the 17th at the Seoul Central District Court.

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