'Donbongtu' Kang Raegu's Second Imprisonment Crossroad: "I Will Speak Well to the Judge"

Kang Raegoo, former Standing Auditor of Korea Water Resources Corporation (58), the key suspect in the Democratic Party of Korea's '2021 Party Convention Money Envelope Suspicion,' has once again appeared for a detention hearing. It has been about 17 days since his first detention hearing on the 21st of last month.

The prosecution believes that Kang had considerable influence in the process of distributing the money envelopes, and if his custody is secured, the investigation is expected to accelerate.

The key suspect in the 'money envelope suspicion,' Kang Rae-gu, former Standing Auditor of Korea Water Resources Corporation, is heading to the Seoul Central District Court courtroom on the afternoon of the 8th to undergo the second pre-trial detention hearing (warrant examination). [Image source=Yonhap News]

At 2 p.m. on the 8th, Judge Yoo Chang-hoon, in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, conducted the pre-arrest detention hearing for Kang, who was re-subjected to a detention warrant request by the prosecution on charges of violating the Political Parties Act and bribery.

Upon appearing in court that day, Kang told reporters asking about his stance on the prosecution's claim of evidence destruction, "I will explain well to the judge." He did not respond to questions such as whether he denies the money envelope suspicion itself or whether he was involved in formatting the hard disk of the computer at the Peace and Livelihood Research Institute, an external support organization of former representative Song Young-gil. The detention decision is expected to be made as early as that night or the following early morning.

Kang is accused of conspiring with Democratic Party lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Sung-man, and former Democratic Party Deputy Secretary-General Lee Jung-geun from March to May 2021 to instruct and encourage members of the National Assembly and others to distribute a total of 94 million KRW to ensure the election of former representative Song Young-gil at the party convention, and of providing money and goods. The prosecution also applied charges against Kang for receiving 3 million KRW in September 2020 from a businessman under the pretext of a delivery request for equipment at a power plant under the Water Resources Corporation.

Whether Kang will be detained is expected to hinge on concerns over 'evidence destruction.' In the previous detention hearing, the court dismissed Kang's warrant, stating that "it is difficult to conclude that evidence destruction is expected." The prosecution, through supplementary investigation, confirmed circumstances such as some computer hard disks at the Peace and Livelihood Research Institute being formatted or replaced, and thus re-requested the detention warrant.

The charge of violating the Political Funds Act, which was included in the search warrant, was not applied this time either, as additional verification of the source of funds was deemed necessary.

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