Jung Jin-sang "Bribery Impossible in Office with CCTV"... Prosecution "Fake CCTV"

Jung Jin-sang, former Chief of Political Coordination at the office of Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is a close aide, claimed "not guilty of all charges" in the trial over preferential treatment allegations in the Wirye and Daejang-dong development projects.

On the 29th, Jung's lawyer stated at the first hearing of the bribery case under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes held at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 23 (Presiding Judge Jo Byung-gu), "Jung has never received bribes from Yoo Dong-gyu, former Planning Director of Seongnam Urban Development Corporation. He also never promised any economic benefits related to the Daejang-dong project."

Jung Jin-sang, former Chief of Political Coordination Office at the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the pre-trial detention hearing at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu on November 18 last year.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The lawyer argued, "Given the office layout at the time, it was impossible to offer bribes," adding, "Then-Mayor Lee Jae-myung installed CCTV in the city hall that even recorded sound to prevent anyone from bringing bribes, and Jung's office was in an open space in front of the mayor's office," further stating, "It is unreasonable to believe that Jung received bribes in his office while being surrounded by other employees."

When the prosecution countered, "The CCTV claim was impeached during the pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant review), which led to Jung's detention," and argued that the secretary office CCTV was 'fake,' Jung's side responded, "How do you know if the CCTV was not working?"

Regarding this, Yoo, the former director, told reporters in front of the courthouse, "The usual lies are starting again. Even they must know the mayor's office CCTV is fake," adding, "It was just a CCTV that was installed but not functioning. I once asked if the mayor would be uncomfortable, and Jung said, 'That doesn't work. It doesn't operate.'"

He continued, "At least the one in the mayor's office is fake. As far as I know, there is also a fake one in the secretary's office," adding that he understood there were 'blind spots' in the office.

Jung, who was indicted and detained on December 9 last year, is accused of receiving 140 million won in bribes six times from the Daejang-dong group between February 2013 and October 2020 (bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes), and promising to share approximately 42.8 billion won in Daejang-dong development profits with Kim Man-bae, major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, along with Kim, the deputy director, and Yoo, the former director, as a reward for selecting the Daejang-dong developer (bribery after fraudulent acts).

He is also charged with leaking internal secrets of Seongnam City and Seongnam Urban Development Corporation to private contractors including lawyer Nam between July 2013 and March 2017, enabling them to be selected as developers for the Wirye New Town project, allowing Hoban Construction to implement and construct the project, and obtaining development profits worth about 21 billion won (violation of the Anti-Corruption Act). Additionally, he is accused of instructing Yoo to throw his mobile phone out the window to destroy evidence when the prosecution's search and seizure was imminent on September 29, 2021 (obstruction of justice).

Yoo is charged with giving bribes totaling 60 million won in two installments to Jung between September 2019 and October 2020 (bribery offering). While the statute of limitations for bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes is 10 years, it is 7 years for bribery offering, so most of the amount is outside the scope of punishment.

Yoo Dong-gyu, Former Head of Planning Division at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation / Photo by Heo Young-han younghan@

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