Prosecutors Summon Former Hoban Construction CEO Over Kwak Sang-do's 5 Billion Won Bribery Allegation

The prosecution investigating the "5 billion won bribery suspicion" involving former People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do and his son Byung-chae has summoned the former CEO of Hoban Construction, who participated in the Korea Development Bank consortium during the Daejang-dong project bidding.

Former People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do, accused of receiving bribes as severance pay for his son from the Daejang-dong group, is attending the first trial sentencing hearing related to violations of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 8th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

According to the legal community on the 1st, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 3 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kang Baek-shin) summoned Jeon Jung-gyu, former Vice Chairman of Hoban Construction Group, as a witness for questioning.

Jeon was the CEO of Hoban Construction when the consortiums?Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management and Hana Bank's Seongnam Eutteul consortium and the Korea Development Bank consortium formed by Hoban Construction?competed for the development rights of the Daejang-dong project in 2015.

The prosecution reportedly questioned Jeon about the background of why Hana Bank was needed in the Korea Development Bank consortium, the methods and circumstances under which Hoban Construction pressured Hana Bank, and the role of former lawmaker Kwak.

The prosecution suspects that in 2015, former lawmaker Kwak helped prevent the collapse of the Seongnam Eutteul consortium, which included Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, and in return, received 5 billion won from Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu, as retirement money for his son Byung-chae.

Three groups applied for the 2015 Daejang-dong development project bidding: the Seongnam Eutteul consortium, the Korea Development Bank consortium, and the Meritz Securities consortium. At that time, Hoban Construction, part of the Korea Development Bank consortium, proposed Hana Bank's participation, putting the Seongnam Eutteul consortium, which Hana Bank had initially agreed to join, at risk of collapse.

The prosecution believes that former lawmaker Kwak, at Kim's request, exerted influence on Hana Bank to prevent this.

However, the first trial court previously ruled that it was difficult to view former lawmaker Kwak and his son as an "economic community" and did not recognize the 5 billion won retirement money received by Byung-chae as a bribe. After appealing and conducting additional investigations, the prosecution has charged Byung-chae as an accomplice in receiving the 5 billion won bribe under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.

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