"Jung Min-yong Repeatedly Delivered Daejang-dong Reports to Lee Jae-myung, Mayor of Seongnam's Secretary Office"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Court testimony revealed that lawyer Jeong Min-yong, who was indicted for involvement in preferential treatment and lobbying allegations related to the Daejang-dong project, visited the Seongnam mayor’s secretariat multiple times to deliver related reports.

Accountant Kim Min-geol testified as a witness at the 14th trial session held on the 14th at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 22 (Presiding Judge Lee Jun-cheol), involving former Seongnam Urban Development Corporation (Seongnam UDC) Planning Director Yoo Dong-gyu, Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management (Hwacheon Daeyu) major shareholder Kim Man-bae, lawyer Nam Wook, accountant Jeong Young-hak, and lawyer Jeong Min-yong.

Accountant Kim worked at Seongnam UDC during the Daejang-dong development project. He joined Seongnam UDC through an introduction by accountant Jeong Young-hak. During the Daejang-dong project, he was in charge of the Strategic Business Team. The Strategic Business Team was the department that drafted the project’s bidding guidelines, and lawyer Jeong Min-yong, who was the team leader within the Strategic Business Team, is known to have led the drafting of the bidding guidelines.

The bidding guidelines for the Daejang-dong project are suspected to have been written so that the corporation would only receive a fixed amount even if profits exceeded expectations, thereby providing preferential treatment to private business operators such as Kim Man-bae, lawyer Nam, and accountant Jeong.

The prosecution asked accountant Kim, "Do you know that defendant Jeong Min-yong went to then-Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung in 2016 to obtain a signature on a report excluding the First Industrial Complex from the Daejang-dong project?" Kim replied, "At that time, Team Leader Jeong Min-yong brought the report to the Seongnam mayor’s secretariat multiple times."

When the prosecution asked again, "Are you saying that lawyer Jeong Min-yong brought the report to the Seongnam mayor’s secretariat several times?" Kim answered, "It was not just once."

However, when asked, "Do you remember if defendant Jeong Min-yong met Mayor Lee Jae-myung and obtained approval?" Kim explained, "I have never heard that he met Mayor Lee Jae-myung and obtained approval." Also, when the prosecution asked if he instructed lawyer Jeong Min-yong to get Mayor Lee’s signature, Kim said, "No, I did not."

Accountant Kim appeared in court for the second time following his appearance on the 11th. On this day, he also testified that at the early stage of the Daejang-dong development, it was expected that profits could exceed the project feasibility evaluation.

The prosecution asked accountant Kim, "Since the project feasibility evaluation by the private research institution was conservative, it is believed that it was fully expected that profits would exceed the feasibility evaluation." Kim replied, "The feasibility evaluation itself may have conservative assumptions regarding cash flow."

When the prosecution asked again, "Isn’t it easy to expect that actual profits would be much higher than the feasibility evaluation?" Kim said, "Rather than ‘much higher,’ it seems reasonable to expect that profits could be higher than the evaluation results."

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