'North Korea Remittance and Bribery' Lee Hwa-young, Fourth Prosecutor Investigation Today... Confrontation with Bang Yong-chul

The prosecution investigating the allegations of illegal remittances to North Korea by Ssangbangwool Group will summon former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young for the fourth time on the 5th for questioning.

According to legal circles, the Criminal Division 6 of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-nam) plans to summon former Deputy Governor Lee around 2 p.m. on the same day as a suspect on charges including violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act. Previously, the prosecution summoned him on the 15th, 22nd, and 26th of last month to question him about the allegations. It is reported that this time, the prosecution will summon former Deputy Governor Lee and Ssangbangwool Group Vice Chairman Bang Yong-chul together for a confrontation interrogation.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Through the confrontation interrogation, the prosecution is expected to first ask about the details of bribes provided by Ssangbangwool Group to former Deputy Governor Lee and then jointly verify the North Korea-related business and remittance processes. Former Deputy Governor Lee is suspected of receiving bribes and illegal political funds amounting to over 300 million won by continuing to use a corporate card issued under the name of a Ssangbangwool general affairs team employee and a corporate vehicle even after resigning as an outside director of Ssangbangwool from June 25, 2019, to August 25, 2022, as well as falsely registering his acquaintances as Ssangbangwool employees to receive salaries. He is also suspected of being deeply involved in former Ssangbangwool Group Chairman Kim Sung-tae’s transfer of over 8 million dollars to North Korea in 2019.

Former Deputy Governor Lee continues to deny these charges, but Vice Chairman Bang recently changed his previous statements by acknowledging these details and the overall North Korea-related business of Gyeonggi Province during prosecution investigations and trials. On the 3rd, he appeared as a witness at the bribery trial of former Deputy Governor Lee held by the Criminal Division 11 of Suwon District Court (Presiding Judge Shin Jin-woo) and testified that "If there had been no connection with Gyeonggi Province, the North side would not have signed an economic cooperation contract with us," indicating that he discussed the North Korea-related business promotion with former Deputy Governor Lee.

Additionally, Vice Chairman Bang stated regarding the relationship between former Chairman Kim Sung-tae and Lee Jae-myung, the then Governor of Gyeonggi Province and current leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, that "Kim Sung-tae and Lee Jae-myung communicated via former Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young or lawyer Lee Tae-hyung, but they never spoke directly or met face-to-face."

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