Prosecutors Request Arrest Warrant for Representative Lee Jae-myung... First in Constitutional History (Comprehensive)

First Opposition Party Leader in Constitutional History... Investigation Launched After 1 Year 6 Months
Wirye Favoritism Allegations Applied Under Anti-Corruption Act and Act on Regulation of Concealment of Crime Proceeds
Seongnam FC Bribery Charges of 13.3 Billion KRW... Arrest Consent Request Expected Soon

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] On the 16th, the prosecution filed an arrest warrant for Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, on charges including breach of trust involving approximately 480 billion KRW. This comes one year and six months after a dedicated investigation team was formed to probe allegations related to the Daejang-dong urban development project. This is the first time in constitutional history that an arrest warrant has been filed against the leader of the main opposition party.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 (Chief Prosecutor Eom Hee-jun) and Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 3 (Chief Prosecutor Kang Baek-shin) announced that on the morning of the same day, they filed a pre-arrest warrant against Lee for allegedly causing damage to Seongnam City and Seongnam Urban Development Corporation during the Daejang-dong urban development project while he was mayor of Seongnam (breach of trust under the Specific Economic Crimes Act). The prosecution also applied charges of violating the Public Officials Conflict of Interest Prevention Act in connection with the Daejang-dong case. It was stated that Lee conspired with former party office political coordination chief Jeong Jin-sang, former Seongnam Urban Development Corporation director Yoo Dong-gyu, lawyer Nam Wook, and Kim Man-bae, major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, to gain profits amounting to approximately 788.6 billion KRW. The damage caused to Seongnam City and Seongnam Urban Development Corporation was calculated at 489.5 billion KRW.

Regarding preferential treatment allegations in the Wirye New Town development project, violations of the Anti-Corruption Act and the Act on the Regulation of Concealment of Criminal Proceeds were cited. It was found that Lee and others gained profits worth approximately 21.1 billion KRW during this process.

The 'Seongnam FC sponsorship fund' case, investigated by the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Seongnam Branch, was transferred to the Central District Prosecutors' Office investigation team the day before and was combined with the Wirye and Daejang-dong cases for the arrest warrant filing. The Seongnam FC sponsorship fund allegations were charged as third-party bribery (violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes). The prosecution included only 13.35 billion KRW from six companies that provided sponsorship funds with bribery characteristics to Seongnam FC?Doosan Construction, Naver, Cha Hospital, and Pureun Wirye?in the criminal charges. Investigations into the remaining companies, Nonghyup, Alphadome, and Hyundai Department Store, will continue. The 4 billion KRW sponsorship fund from Naver, which flowed through Jubilee Bank to Seongnam FC, was charged under the Act on the Recovery of Criminal Proceeds.

Accordingly, the Seoul Central District Court is expected to soon submit a request for consent to arrest to the Ministry of Justice. Upon receipt, the Ministry of Justice must obtain presidential approval and then forward the request to the National Assembly. The Speaker of the National Assembly must report the request at the first plenary session after receipt and hold a plenary session within 72 hours to conduct a secret ballot vote. According to political and legal circles, the vote on the consent to arrest Lee is likely to take place on the 24th, when a plenary session is scheduled. Before the vote, Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon and Lee will present their positions before the members of the National Assembly.

Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office [Photo by Yonhap News]

On the same day, Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok emphasized regarding the Wirye and Daejang-dong development corruption cases for which Lee's arrest warrant was filed, stating, "This is an extremely serious case of local entrenched corruption where astronomical development profits that should have originally gone to local residents and autonomous bodies were illegally shared among real estate developers and brokers through illicit collusion between local authorities and real estate developers."

Meanwhile, besides the two cases for which arrest warrants were filed this time, the prosecution is also investigating other allegations involving Lee, including 'preferential treatment in Baekhyeon-dong development,' 'North Korea remittance by Ssangbangwool Group,' and 'lawyer fee payments.' Regarding the Baekhyeon-dong case, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 conducted large-scale raids on over 40 locations on the 7th, including Seongnam City Hall, Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, the Baekhyeon-dong development project implementer, civil engineering contractors' offices, and residences and offices of related persons, deploying about 180 prosecutors and investigators. The investigation team continues to analyze the related materials secured at that time. The Baekhyeon-dong development was a project to create apartments on land left after the Korea Food Research Institute relocated to a local area under the government's public institution relocation plan during Lee Jae-myung's tenure as mayor of Seongnam. The land use zone, originally natural green space, was upgraded by four levels to a quasi-residential area, and it is known that a private developer earned profits of about 300 billion KRW, raising suspicions of preferential treatment. Lee is registered as a suspect along with Kim In-seop, former CEO of Korea Housing Technology, among others.

The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office investigation team is examining whether Lee was involved in or informed about Ssangbangwool Group's remittance to North Korea. The investigation gained momentum recently with the successive detention of former Ssangbangwool Group chairman Kim Sung-tae and his associates. The day before, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Criminal Division 6 summoned and investigated former Gyeonggi Province Peace Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young. Lee is suspected of demanding that Kim, in 2019, cover 5 million USD of the smart farm support project funds (with 3 million USD for Lee Jae-myung's then-Gyeonggi Province governor's visit to North Korea) sent to North Korea. There are also allegations that Kim communicated with Lee via phone through Lee Hwa-young.

The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Seongnam Branch is also looking into preferential treatment allegations in the Jeongja-dong hotel development project. The allegation involves Bejitz Comprehensive Development receiving various preferential treatments such as land use changes from Seongnam City while building a tourist hotel on city-owned land in Jeongja-dong in 2015. Hwang, CEO of the research service company for Bejitz and a key figure in the case, is known to be a close aide of former chief Jeong Jin-sang and is suspected of involvement in Cha Hospital's payment of sponsorship funds to Seongnam FC.

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