Prosecutors: "Ministry of Industry Blacklist Not Political Retaliation... Preparing Search Warrants Before Presidential Election"

Investigation Team Reinforcement to Occur on 'March 7' Before Presidential Election
Prosecutors: "Doing Our Best to Uncover Substantive Truth"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office clarified that criticisms claiming the investigation into the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's blacklist is political retaliation or code alignment based on the presidential election results are completely unfounded.

On the 12th, the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office told reporters through a document titled "Investigation Progress on the Abuse of Personnel Authority at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy," that "the search and seizure preparations began before the presidential election" and "the investigation team was reinforced through a reassignment of prosecutors at the office on March 7."

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy blacklist case involves an incident in September 2017, early in the Moon Jae-in administration, where a senior official at the ministry forced heads of affiliated public institutions to resign. The Liberty Korea Party filed complaints against related individuals with the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office in January and July 2019.

In response, the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office completed investigations into the resigned institution heads between April and June of the same year, but the case investigation did not progress afterward. However, the investigation into the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy blacklist case intensified when the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office conducted search and seizure operations over two days on the 25th and 28th of last month. This sparked controversy in political circles, alleging the investigation was for code alignment.

However, the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office explained that regarding the Ministry of Environment blacklist case, which was prosecuted in April 2019, the investigation was approached cautiously considering the intense legal disputes involved.

The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office added, "The Ministry of Environment blacklist case differed in the prosecution's charges and the scope of convictions recognized in the first and second trials. It was an important case addressing all issues related to personnel appointments of public institution heads, and therefore, we judged it necessary to await the Supreme Court's final ruling on the Ministry of Environment blacklist case."

They also explained that consideration was given to the fact that the key accused in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy blacklist case left for the United States on March 19, 2019, and returned this February after completing an overseas assignment.

Furthermore, the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office emphasized that the investigation will proceed according to law and principles. The office stated, "We are conducting the investigation without any prejudice, fully guaranteeing the human rights and procedural rights of those involved, and we will do our best to promptly uncover the substantive truth."

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