Prosecutors Indict Kang Raegu of Democratic Party for Distributing 'Money Envelopes'... Involved with Total 94 Million Won

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Former Korea Water Resources Corporation Standing Auditor Kang Raegu (58), the key suspect in the Democratic Party's 'money envelope' scandal, has been indicted.

The Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Youngcheol) arrested and indicted Kang on the 26th on charges of violating the Political Parties Act, the Political Funds Act, and bribery.

This is the first time the prosecution has indicted a related person since it officially launched an investigation with a large-scale search on the 12th of last month regarding this suspicion.

According to the prosecution, Kang is accused of conspiring with former Democratic Party leader Song Younggil, independent lawmakers Yoon Gwansuk and Lee Seongman, among others, from March to May 2021, to distribute a total of 94 million KRW within the party to ensure Song's election at the party convention.

The prosecution has identified that the money envelopes were distributed in three channels: incumbent lawmakers, regional headquarters chiefs, and regional situation room chiefs.

Kang is also accused of conspiring with primary election camp officials in April 2021 to receive 50 million KRW from a 'sponsor' businessman named Kim as funds for the primary election camp, and then delivering 60 million KRW in two installments to lawmaker Yoon, who was instructed, encouraged, or requested to provide the money to incumbent lawmakers later that month.

In March 2021, Kang allegedly instructed and encouraged primary election camp officials to provide election campaign activity expenses to regional headquarters chiefs, resulting in 28 envelopes each containing 500,000 KRW being distributed to regional headquarters chiefs around March to April of the same year. Investigations revealed that 10 million KRW of the funds used here came from independent lawmaker Lee Seongman.

Additionally, at the end of April of the same year, Kang is accused of instructing and encouraging primary election camp officials to provide election campaign activity expenses to regional situation room chiefs, leading to the distribution of 40 envelopes each containing 500,000 KRW, totaling 20 million KRW, around April to May of the same year.

The prosecution applied charges of violating the Political Funds Act for the 60 million KRW, for which the sources were identified as lawmaker Lee and businessman Kim.

Regarding the allegations that Kang directly provided money envelopes to regional headquarters chiefs and regional situation room chiefs, the prosecution decided not to include these in the indictment, citing the need for further investigation of the recipients.

A prosecution official stated, "Although a significant part of the investigation into the provision of money to regional headquarters chiefs and situation room chiefs has been conducted, some parts remain to be investigated, so these were not included in this indictment."

Furthermore, Kang is also accused of accepting 3 million KRW in bribes in September 2020 from businessman Park, under the pretext of a delivery request for equipment at a power plant under the Water Resources Corporation.

Meanwhile, on the same day, the Ministry of Justice submitted a request for arrest consent to the National Assembly, following the approval of President Yoon Suk-yeol, in response to a request from a judge at the Seoul Central District Court regarding the charges of violating the Political Parties Act against independent lawmakers Yoon Gwansuk and Lee Seongman, who are other key suspects in this scandal.

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