"'Son's 5 Billion Won Retirement Pay' Kwak Sang-do Denies Charges in First Trial: 'My Life Entirely Denied'"

Former People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do is leaving the Seoul Central District Court after completing his detention hearing on the 4th of last month. / Photo by Kim Dae-hyun

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Former People Power Party lawmaker Gwak Sang-do (63), accused of favoring developers of the Daejang-dong project and receiving bribes through his son, appeared at his first trial and denied the charges.

At 10:30 a.m. on the 17th, the 22nd Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Joon-cheol) held the first pretrial hearing for Gwak and others, who were indicted while in custody on charges including bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. Although defendants are not required to attend pretrial hearings, Gwak appeared in court in person.

At the hearing, Gwak denied the charges, stating, "Coming to this trial, I feel that my entire life is being denied. I have also lived diligently in my own way, but there is nothing in the warrant's criminal facts that says I did anything for their business." He added, "Due to COVID-19, visits with my lawyer in detention are difficult, and all information is cut off. I hope there will be sufficient opportunities to guarantee my right to defense."

Gwak is accused of exerting influence on behalf of the Hana Financial Group at the request of Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management (Hwacheon Daeyu), when the Hana Bank consortium, which Hwacheon Daeyu participated in, faced collapse during the 2015 Daejang-dong development project. Prosecutors view that in return, his son Byung-chae, who worked at Hwacheon Daeyu for about six years, received 5 billion won (2.5 billion won after tax) as severance pay.

Gwak is also charged with receiving illegal political funds of 50 million won from lawyer Nam Wook, owner of Cheonhwa Dongin No. 4, a subsidiary of Hwacheon Daeyu, around April 2016 when he was elected as a member of the National Assembly in the 20th general election. Nam was additionally indicted on related charges and was brought to trial alongside Gwak, but did not attend the pretrial hearing on this day.

The pretrial hearing for Kim, who was additionally indicted for embezzling company funds to give bribes to Gwak, was held at the same time in the 22nd Criminal Division, and Kim also appeared in court in person. The court decided to consolidate the cases of Gwak, lawyer Nam, and Kim for future hearings.

According to a transcript submitted to prosecutors by accountant Jung Young-hak, owner of Cheonhwa Dongin No. 5, when Kim asked, "What does your father want?" Byung-chae replied, "What will you do with the money that was supposed to be given to my father?" Kim then said, "What if you give it all at once? Since it would be more than Executive Director A (Hwacheon Daeyu executive), you should split it into one to three times and give it through you," as reported.

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