Prosecutors to Seek Arrest Warrant for Kim Seong-tae Immediately Upon Return Next Week... Rapid Progress in Investigation of Lawyer Fee Payments

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Former Ssangbangwool Group Chairman Kim Sung-tae, who was caught after living as a fugitive overseas, is expected to return to Korea through Incheon International Airport as early as the 16th. The prosecution plans to secure his custody immediately upon his return.

According to legal circles on the 13th, Kim admitted to illegal stay at a trial held at a Thai court the day before and expressed his intention to voluntarily return. Accordingly, the court sentenced Kim to a fine of 3,000 baht (about 110,000 KRW), and Kim was detained at a foreigner detention center. Immediately, the Ministry of Justice requested the Korean Embassy in Thailand to issue an emergency electronic passport for Kim. Normally, it takes 5 to 7 days to receive an emergency electronic passport in Thailand. Since the Ministry of Justice is expediting Kim’s repatriation process, legal circles expect that if the procedure proceeds quickly, entry on the 16th will be possible. Yang Seon-gil, the current chairman of Ssangbangwool Group, is also scheduled to enter the country together with Kim.

Prosecution Photo by Yonhap News

The Criminal Division 6 of Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-nam) is expected to arrest, investigate, and request an arrest warrant as soon as they enter the country. To prepare for any contingencies, the prosecution plans to dispatch about six investigators to the local area this weekend to accompany them from the Thai airport. The investigation team obtained an arrest warrant from the court just before requesting a red notice from Interpol in August last year. If the warrant is executed and they are arrested, a decision must be made within 48 hours whether to request a detention warrant. Since the investigation team has thoroughly investigated various charges against Kim for about a year, it is expected that there will be no difficulty in requesting an arrest warrant.

If the court issues an arrest warrant, the prosecution’s investigation is expected to accelerate rapidly. The Ssangbangwool Group-related cases under review by the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office number about four. Depending on what statements Kim makes, these cases could enter a new phase, drawing attention. In particular, the allegation of 'lawyer fee payment on behalf' involving Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attracting attention. It concerns claims that large sums of legal fees were paid on behalf of lawyers handling Lee’s 2018 Public Official Election Act violation case, when he was governor of Gyeonggi Province, through Ssangbangwool Group’s convertible bonds and other means. The prosecution believes that Kim, the actual owner of the group, was involved in the payment process. Regarding this allegation, the prosecution decided not to indict Lee for the Public Official Election Act violation, whose statute of limitations expired in September last year, but has continued to investigate bribery and violations of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act. The prosecution emphasized in the non-indictment decision document that “there were suspicious circumstances of embezzlement, breach of trust, and money laundering through the irregular issuance and circulation of convertible bonds,” and stated that “it is difficult to exclude the possibility that those proceeds were used to pay legal fees on behalf.”

Additionally, Kim is expected to reveal details regarding the 'North Korea remittance' allegation, which claims that Ssangbangwool smuggled out 6.4 million dollars (about 7.2 billion KRW at the time) to China around 2019 using dozens of executives and employees and then delivered it to North Korea. Regarding the case, An Bu-su, chairman of the Asia-Pacific Peace Exchange Association, and Lee Hwa-young, former deputy governor for peace of Gyeonggi Province, who have already been indicted and detained, deny the charges, making Kim’s investigation even more crucial for the prosecution. Furthermore, Kim is suspected of instructing false disclosure of related information during the transaction of 20 billion KRW convertible bonds issued by Ssangbangwool in 2018?2019.

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