Editing including line spacing... Reviewing the indictment on Ssangbangwool investigation confidentiality leak

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[Asia Economy Reporters Kim Hyung-min and Lee Hyun-joo] "Can you at least tell me what the prosecution is investigating and the criminal facts involved?"

Investigator A from the Criminal Division 6 of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office received a voice call via a mobile messenger app from senior B around mid-May. B had worked as a prosecutor investigator but resigned and was serving as the Ethics Management Director of Ssangbangwool Group. At that time, as the prosecution was intensively investigating the 'Ssangbangwool Group embezzlement and breach of trust' case and external interest was rising, B contacted his junior A, with whom he had a friendly relationship, to find out the prosecution's intentions.

This is how the Ssangbangwool Group investigation confidentiality leak case began. According to the indictment received by Rep. Kim Do-eup of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee from the Ministry of Justice on the 8th, Investigator A handed over the entire warrant materials after receiving such contact from senior B.

On May 24, Investigator A accessed the Criminal Justice Information System (KIC·KICS) on the prosecutor's office work computer and viewed the contents of the search and seizure warrant related to the Ssangbangwool Group embezzlement and breach of trust case. This included all information related to the case such as the names of investigation targets, occupations, shareholding relationships, account numbers, and future criminal facts to be investigated. Investigator A copied this information, pasted it into a Hangul file, edited line spacing and other formatting to organize it clearly, and printed it out. It was a total of 6 pages, printed two pages per sheet.

Investigator A immediately called senior B and said, "Senior, I have the materials you asked for last time," then arranged to meet at a parking lot near his home. Later that same afternoon, Investigator A met B at the parking lot and handed over the printouts.

B handed the printouts to Lawyer C of Law Firm M the next day. Lawyer C, a former prosecutor, was providing legal counsel to Ssangbangwool Group and was close enough to be listed as an outside director of the group. After receiving the printouts, Lawyer C had an assistant scan them and stored the file titled 'Ssangbangwool Criminal Facts.pdf' in the office.

The file was discovered on the 7th of last month when the prosecution raided the office of Law Firm M, where Lawyer Lee Tae-hyung, who served as defense counsel for Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, was working, in connection with allegations of Lee's attorney fee payment by a third party. The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Public Investigation Division, which conducted the raid, obtained the file, believed to have been created by the Criminal Division 6. Subsequently, the Criminal Division 1 (Chief Prosecutor Son Jin-wook) investigated the matter in the form of an internal probe, revealing the details of the investigation confidentiality leak.

In addition to leaking the warrant materials, Criminal Division 1 found that Investigator A secretly informed B of the timing of the search and seizure. In mid-June, B asked A, "Recently, the media has been asking a lot about the investigation. When will the search and seizure happen? Please let me know if you find out." On June 21, Investigator A informed B, "The Ssangbangwool search and seizure warrant was filed yesterday, so please take note." Then on the 22nd, knowing that the prosecution would not proceed with the search and seizure that day, A contacted B saying, "There will be no search and seizure today."

On the 23rd, Criminal Division 1 indicted Investigator A, B, and Lawyer C without detention on charges including official secrets leakage, violation of the Act on Electronic Criminal Procedure, and Personal Information Protection Act.

The prosecution believes that due to Investigator A's leak of investigation secrets, key figures related to the Ssangbangwool Group allegations fled and destroyed evidence. Former Ssangbangwool Group Chairman Kim Sung-tae and others reportedly left the country around June and are currently hiding while moving between Singapore and Thailand. The prosecution has requested Interpol to issue red notices for Kim and others.

Criminal Division 6 is making progress in the investigation by raiding the Northern Office of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government's Peace Cooperation Bureau in Uijeongbu City, Gyeonggi Province, the Southern Office's Communication and Cooperation Bureau in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon City, and the Economic Vice Governor's Office. The raids focused on locations related to Lee Hwa-young, former Vice Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province from 2018 to 2020 and current CEO of KINTEX. The prosecution is reportedly trying to verify allegations that Ssangbangwool bore 800 million KRW in expenses for a North Korea exchange event hosted by the Asia-Pacific Peace Exchange Association, a private organization, and Gyeonggi Province in 2018.

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