Former Gyeonggi Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young Arrested on Charges of Ssangbangwool Bribery

Ewha-young Lee, CEO of KINTEX (former Deputy Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province) [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Lee Hwayoung, former Deputy Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province (CEO of KINTEX), who is accused of receiving bribes worth hundreds of millions of won from Ssangbangwool Group, will undergo prosecution investigation while in custody. The prosecution is expected to intensively question him on related charges and also examine whether Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party and then governor at the time of the incident, was aware of the collusion between Lee and Ssangbangwool.

In the early hours of the 28th, Judge Kim Young-rok of Suwon District Court, responsible for warrants, issued a pre-trial detention warrant for Lee, who is charged with bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes and violations of the Political Funds Act. Judge Kim stated the reason for issuing the warrant as "the charges are substantiated and there is a risk of evidence tampering."

Lee appeared at the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi Province, the previous morning for the substantive hearing of the pre-trial detention warrant (pre-arrest suspect interrogation), telling the press, "I do not admit the charges," and "I did not use (the corporate card)."

Lee is accused of receiving bribes totaling about 250 million won over approximately three years, from August 2018 to January 2020 while serving as Deputy Governor after finishing his position as an outside director of Ssangbangwool, and from September 2020 to early this year while serving as CEO of KINTEX, including corporate cards and three foreign cars from Ssangbangwool. He is also charged with falsely registering his aide as a Ssangbangwool employee to receive about 90 million won in wages.

The prosecution believes that as a quid pro quo for the bribes, Lee played a key role in January and May 2019 in Shenyang, China, in drafting agreements related to economic cooperation projects with North Korea’s Chosun Asia-Pacific Peace Committee and the National Economic Cooperation Federation. At that time, Ssangbangwool affiliates secured business rights for minerals including rare earths from North Korea, and shortly after, the affiliates’ stock prices surged.

The prosecution conducted raids on Lee’s residence, KINTEX, Gyeonggi Provincial Government Office, and the Asia-Pacific Peace Exchange Association on the 7th, and summoned Lee for investigation on the 18th. Furthermore, on the 23rd, they requested a detention warrant against Lee on charges of bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes and violations of the Political Funds Act.

Vice Chairman A of Ssangbangwool, who was also issued a detention warrant on charges of giving bribes to Lee and others, is accused of destroying evidence by forcing employees to give false statements or replacing PCs after the possibility of prosecution was reported in the media late last year. He is also suspected of assisting former and current Ssangbangwool chairmen in fleeing abroad and staying overseas.

Vice Chairman A’s side denies the charges related to providing the corporate card to Lee, stating, "It was simply that the card was not returned after Lee obtained public official status."

Meanwhile, the prosecution is also investigating a 'lawyer fee payment suspicion' related to Lee Jae-myung, where Ssangbangwool Group allegedly paid about 2 billion won in legal fees for Lee’s 2018 election law case lawyers through convertible bonds and other means.

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