'Gongheung District Favoritism Allegations' President Yoon's Brother-in-law Sent to Prosecution...Mother-in-law 'No Charges'

The police have decided to send Kim Mo (53), the brother-in-law of President Yoon Seok-yeol, and others to the prosecution. However, they decided not to indict Choi Eun-soon, President Yoon's mother-in-law, and Kim Geon-hee, the first lady, as there was no evidence of their involvement in the business.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 12th, the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Investigation Unit of the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency announced plans to send five people, including Kim and other ESI&D officials, to the prosecution on charges of forgery and use of false documents, and three people, including a public official A from Yangpyeong County, on charges of creating and using false official documents.

Kim is the actual owner of ESI&D, the project operator of the Gongheung District in Yangpyeong, and is suspected of inserting forged materials into supporting documents related to construction costs in 2016 with the intention of reducing the development charges imposed by Yangpyeong County. Development charges are fees paid to local governments as a portion of the profits gained from development.

ESI&D is known to have carried out an apartment development project of 350 households in the Gongheung District from 2011 to 2016, generating sales worth approximately 80 billion won.

In 2021, ahead of the 20th presidential election, when the fact that the development charges for the Gongheung District project were zero was revealed, allegations of preferential treatment arose mainly in political circles. Yangpyeong County belatedly corrected and imposed development charges of about 187 million won in November of the same year.

The police viewed that Kim and others inflated construction costs to minimize profits.

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