'Lee Jae-myung Seongnam FC Sponsorship Fund Allegation' Seongnam City Hall Search and Seizure

Police Regarding Prosecutors' Request for Supplementary Investigation

The police conducted a raid on Seongnam City Hall on the 2nd in connection with former Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung's 'Seongnam FC sponsorship fund allegations.' This marks the start of a strong investigation about 80 days after the prosecution requested supplementary investigation.

The Bundang Police Station in Gyeonggi sent 22 investigators on the morning of the same day to conduct a raid targeting five departments including the Policy Planning Division and Urban Planning Division of Seongnam City Hall. The police explained, "We launched the raid to carry out additional investigations related to the prosecution's request for supplementary investigation." It is known that the police plan to summon and investigate related parties as soon as the analysis of the materials secured through the raid is completed.

The Seongnam FC sponsorship fund allegations center on the claim that former Governor Lee, who served as the mayor of Seongnam and the owner of Seongnam FC from 2015 to 2017, received about 16 billion KRW from six companies (Naver, Doosan Construction, Nonghyup, Bundang CHA Hospital, Hyundai Department Store, Alphadom City) under the name of Seongnam FC advertising expenses and provided various preferential treatments such as permits and approvals in return. The police concluded no charges after investigating for three years and three months from June 2018 to September last year. The Seongnam Branch Office, which took over the case following a complainant's objection, saw Park Eun-jung, the branch chief known for her pro-government stance, repeatedly reject the investigation team's opinion that 'reinvestigation is necessary,' and Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park Ha-young, who was in charge of the investigation, resigned, leading to criticism of a 'lenient investigation.' The higher authority, Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, ordered supplementary investigation to the Seongnam Branch Office earlier this year, and the case was transferred to Bundang Police Station in February.

Choi Seung-ryeol, head of the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency, recently said at a press conference, "We will conclude the investigation cleanly so that the case is not overturned," and added, "If the conclusion is no indictment again this time, we will investigate to the extent that we can explain the reasonable grounds for it." Kim Kwang-sik, head of the investigation department, also said, "The situation at Bundang Police Station cannot be ignored by the agency, so we are proceeding with the investigation by supporting personnel from the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Investigation Unit," and added, "There should be no further questioning of the police's will to investigate."

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