Prosecutors Arrest Hwacheon Daeyu CEO and Former Ssangbangwool Vice Chairman in 'Kim Man-bae Asset Concealment' Case (Comprehensive)

Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, is entering the courtroom to attend the trial related to the lobbying and preferential treatment allegations in the Daejang-dong development project held at the Seoul Central District Court on the 9th. Photo by Heo Young-han younghan@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The prosecution investigating the 'Daejang-dong Development Project Corruption Case' arrested aides involved in concealing the assets of Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, on the 13th.

The Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Eom Hee-jun) arrested Lee Han-seong, co-CEO of Hwacheon Daeyu, and Choi Woo-hyang, director of Hwacheon Daeyu and former vice chairman of Ssangbangwool Group, on charges related to concealing criminal proceeds obtained by Kim through the Daejang-dong project. They also conducted searches at about ten locations, including the residences of Kim, Choi, and Lee, as well as Hwacheon Daeyu's office. The office of the law firm Bae, Kim & Lee, where the lawyer representing Kim is affiliated, was also included in the search targets.

The prosecution has frozen real estate such as land and buildings owned under real and borrowed names by Kim and other private operators involved in the Daejang-dong project, as well as deposit refund claims, totaling about 80 billion KRW, and has been tracking additional concealed assets. The total amount of seizure preservation approved by the court (the amount that may be subject to future confiscation) is approximately 444.6 billion KRW, which corresponds to the profits earned by the Daejang-dong group from the project.

During the process of tracing the flow of funds in the Daejang-dong project, the prosecution discovered evidence that Kim laundered and concealed criminal proceeds and launched a forced investigation.

Lee, who was arrested on this day, was a former aide to Lee Hwa-young, former Peace Deputy Governor of Gyeonggi Province and a close associate of Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, when Lee Hwa-young was a member of the National Assembly. It is reported that Lee joined Hwacheon Daeyu at Kim's request while working as a lawyer and being an alumnus of Sungkyunkwan University.

Lee served as an auditor of Hwacheon Daeyu in 2018 and was appointed as an inside director of Cheonhwa Dongin No. 1, a company wholly owned by Hwacheon Daeyu, in January 2019. In September last year, he became co-CEO of Hwacheon Daeyu. Lee is known to have managed Kim's bank accounts and handled fund withdrawals under Kim's instructions.

Choi is a figure who was formerly involved in a violent organization in the Mokpo area and is said to have been a close acquaintance of Kim Man-bae for 20 years. After Kim's first arrest warrant was dismissed on October 15 last year, Choi appeared in front of Seoul Detention Center wearing a motorcycle helmet and even helped carry Kim's belongings. The prosecution is focusing on the suspicious frequent financial transactions between the two.

It was investigated that Kim lent 2 billion KRW to Choi out of 47.3 billion KRW borrowed from Hwacheon Daeyu in February 2020. Hwacheon Daeyu also lent 3 billion KRW to a company operated by Choi in June of the same year. Choi is known to have used this money to acquire small and medium-sized enterprises.

Even in October last year, while the Daejang-dong investigation was ongoing, Kim lent an additional 3 billion KRW to Choi without interest or collateral.

Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office

Choi is also a key figure in proving the connection between the Daejang-dong case and the allegations of Lee Jae-myung's legal fee payments by Ssangbangwool Group. He participated in the acquisition of Ssangbangwool by former chairman Kim Sung-tae, who fled overseas, in 2010, served as Ssangbangwool's CEO in 2013, and was promoted to vice chairman of the group. He is also known to have been involved in the 2014 Ssangbangwool stock manipulation case. Choi was the person who connected Kim and former chairman Kim Sung-tae.

Ssangbangwool Group is under investigation for allegedly paying large legal fees in the form of convertible bonds to lawyers who handled the public official election law violation case against Lee while he was governor of Gyeonggi Province in 2018.

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