'1 Billion Won Bribery' Allegation: Former Democratic Party Deputy Secretary-General Lee Jeong-geun's First Trial Next Month

Lee Jeong-geun, former Deputy Secretary-General of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is accused of receiving a large sum of money from a businessman in exchange for a favor, is attending a detention hearing (warrant review) held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the morning of September 30. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The first trial of Lee Jeong-geun, former Deputy Secretary-General of the Democratic Party of Korea, who was detained and indicted on charges of receiving 1 billion KRW in bribes in exchange for favors, will be held next month.

According to the legal community on the 4th, the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 27 (Presiding Judge Kim Ok-gon) will hold the first preparatory hearing for Lee, who was indicted on charges including violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes for receiving bribes and violation of the Political Funds Act, at 10:30 a.m. on the 14th of next month.

Lee is accused of receiving 940 million KRW from businessman Park over dozens of occasions between December 2019 and January 2022 under the pretext of facilitating the allocation of government energy funds worth 10 billion KRW, permits related to the mask business, public institution supplies, and promotions of executives at Korea Southern Power Company.

He is also accused of receiving illegal political funds amounting to 330 million KRW several times from Park between February and April 2020, during the 21st National Assembly elections, under the pretext of election expenses.

The prosecution considers that some of the money received as bribes and the illegal political funds overlap, and thus estimates the total amount received to be 1 billion KRW.

Lee served as the head of the Moon Jae-in presidential campaign headquarters during the 19th presidential election and as the deputy head of the Lee Jae-myung presidential campaign headquarters during the 20th presidential election. He also ran as the Democratic Party candidate for Seocho-gap, Seoul, in the 2016 and 2020 general elections and the March by-election this year.

Earlier, Lee was also indicted for violating the Public Official Election Act by paying election workers amounts exceeding the legal limit during the March 9 by-election, and is undergoing trial under the same court division as this case.

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