Lee Jeong-geun "Luxury bags worth hundreds of thousands of won, I don't think they are very big"

‘1 Billion Won Bribery’ Lee Jeong-geun, Former Deputy Secretary-General of the Democratic Party... Admits Some Charges
Admits About 40 Million Won of the 1 Billion Won Alleged... "Received from Social Relations"

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 favors, is attending a warrant hearing at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong on the morning of September 30.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The former Deputy Secretary-General of the Democratic Party, Lee Jeong-geun, who was indicted on charges of receiving 1 billion KRW in bribes from a businessman in exchange for various favors such as public institution personnel appointments, has admitted to some of the allegations.

At the trial held on the 21st at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 27 (Presiding Judge Kim Ok-gon), Lee's defense attorney submitted a statement acknowledging some of the facts regarding the receipt of money.

When the court asked, "Are you acknowledging some facts of money receipt and mediation?" Lee's attorney replied, "Yes."

Lee is accused of receiving 940 million KRW over dozens of occasions from businessman Park, under the pretext of arranging government energy fund allocations worth 10 billion KRW from December 2019 to January 2022, approvals and public institution supplies related to mask projects, and promotions of executives at Korea South Power Co., Ltd.

He is also charged with 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 name of election expenses. The prosecution considers that some of the money received as mediation fees and illegal political funds overlap, and thus estimates the total amount received at 1 billion KRW.

The amount Lee admitted to among the charges is about 40 million KRW out of the total 1 billion KRW. After the trial, Lee's attorney explained to reporters, "He acknowledges receiving 30 to 40 million KRW, including a luxury handbag given by businessman Park as a birthday gift. This is only a very small portion of the 1 billion KRW the prosecution is concerned about, and he claims there were no actual requests or solicitations."

Lee's side argues that Park, a billionaire with assets worth several hundred billion KRW, considered the few million KRW he gave to Lee insignificant and that these were received as birthday gifts and other social gestures within their social relationship.

Lee's attorney said, "Most of the money received was a few million KRW socially within human relationships, such as condolence money given in envelopes at the opening of the election office or luxury handbags received as birthday gifts. Since Park introduced himself as a billionaire worth about 800 billion KRW, Lee did not think receiving a Louis Vuitton bag worth 7 to 8 million KRW was a big deal. He thought that a few million KRW to Park might be equivalent to tens of thousands of KRW to others."

The court decided to begin formal trials starting with the witness examination of Park on January 13 next year.

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