Police Coordinate Summons Schedule for Former People Power Party Leader Lee Jun-seok Over Alleged Sexual Bribery Case

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] The police investigating allegations of sexual bribery involving former People Power Party leader Lee Jun-seok plan to summon him for direct questioning.

According to the police on the 1st, the Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency recently notified former leader Lee of the summons and is coordinating the schedule.

Former leader Lee is accused of receiving sexual bribery from Kim Sung-jin, CEO of i-KIST, in 2013, and receiving Chuseok holiday gifts in 2015.

The police previously conducted six interview sessions with CEO Kim, who is currently detained at Seoul Detention Center. Kim claims that from July to August 2013 until September 2015, under the pretext of mediation involving former President Park Geun-hye, he provided former leader Lee with sexual bribery, a cosmetics set worth 9 million won, and holiday gifts worth 2.5 million won.

The charges against former leader Lee include violations of the Act on the Punishment of Sexual Traffic, bribery, abuse of authority, and false accusation. Among these, the violation of the Act on the Punishment of Sexual Traffic has a statute of limitations of five years, which expired in 2018, so the charge cannot be applied.

However, CEO Kim's side argues that the principle of continuous offense (treating similar acts as a single crime) should be applied based on the last gift given in September 2015, in which case the statute of limitations extends until this month.

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