Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Conducts Additional Search of Ssangbangwool After Two Weeks... Lawyer's Office Also Searched Over 'Lee Jae-myung's Attorney Fee Payment' Allegations

Lee Jae-myung, member of the Democratic Party of Korea (center). Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] It has been confirmed that the prosecution investigating the allegations of attorney fee payments made on behalf of Lee Jae-myung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, conducted a search and seizure at the office of the lawyer involved in the allegations.

Additionally, the prosecution also carried out an additional search and seizure on Ssangbangwool Group, which is under investigation for suspicious financial flows. Ssangbangwool is also implicated in the allegations of attorney fee payments on behalf of Lee.

According to the legal community on the 8th, the Public Investigation Division of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Jeong Won-du) sent investigators to the office of attorney Lee Tae-hyung, who handled Lee’s 2018 Public Official Election Act violation case, to secure related materials.

The attorney fee payment allegations concern claims that in 2018, while serving as governor of Gyeonggi Province, Lee had large sums of attorney fees paid on his behalf by the Ssangbangwool Group through convertible bonds and other means to the lawyers representing him in the Public Official Election Act violation case.

The prosecution investigation began after the end of last year when pro-Moon Jae-in civic groups such as the Awake Citizens Coalition and the People Power Party filed complaints related to these allegations.

The prosecution has been investigating the case by conducting complainant interviews at the end of last year and by searching the offices of the Legal Ethics Committee and tax offices in the Seoul area to review attorney fee records.

Furthermore, this year, the prosecution has been summoning attorney Lee and other members of the defense team involved at the time, either in person or through written inquiries.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Division 6 of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-nam) sent investigators to Ssangbangwool’s headquarters in Seoul yesterday to secure related materials.

This search and seizure of Ssangbangwool Group by the prosecution was conducted again just fifteen days after the previous one on the 23rd of last month.

Previously, the prosecution had received data from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) regarding Ssangbangwool’s “suspicious financial flows” and has been investigating accordingly.

In particular, it is known that the investigation is focusing on the process of selling convertible bonds (CB) worth 4.5 billion won issued by Ssangbangwool in 2020.

Within the legal community, there is speculation that this additional search and seizure is also related to the allegations of attorney fee payments on behalf of Lee.

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