Prosecutors Focus on Proving 'Money Actually Received by Park Young-soo'... Special Prosecutor Investigators Summoned One After Another

After the arrest warrant for former special prosecutor Park Young-soo in the Daejang-dong '50 Billion Club' suspicion case was dismissed, the prosecution is focusing on proving the flow of the 'actual money received.' To this end, the prosecution has been summoning and investigating close lawyer associates who worked with former special prosecutor Park as special investigators in the Park Geun-hye corruption special investigation team.

Former Special Prosecutor Park Young-soo. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

In addition, the prosecution is reportedly considering applying additional charges by clarifying the nature of the preferential funds received by former special prosecutor Park's daughter from Hwacheon Daeyu.

According to the legal community on the 17th, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Eom Hee-jun) recently summoned lawyers Heo Jin-young, Lee, and Kang as witnesses for questioning.

The prosecution confirmed with them the source, timing of inflow, and use of funds used during former special prosecutor Park's 2014 Korean Bar Association presidential election campaign.

Lawyers Heo and others all worked at the law firm Gangnam, where former special prosecutor Park served as the lead attorney. They joined the Park Geun-hye corruption special investigation team as special investigators in 2016. They also actively supported former special prosecutor Park's Korean Bar Association presidential campaign. It was confirmed that they left comments such as "He is said to be the most popular candidate at every local bar association he visits" or clicked 'like' on Park's social media posts.

The prosecution believes that former special prosecutor Park, as chairman of the board of Woori Bank, promised about 20 billion KRW in return for helping the Daejang-dong group, including Kim Man-bae and Nam Wook, with consortium formation, and actually received 300 million KRW in cash through former special prosecutor assistant Yang Jae-sik from October to December 2014 for the Korean Bar Association presidential election expenses.

After reviewing the reasons for the court's dismissal of former special prosecutor Park's arrest warrant on the 30th of last month, the prosecution appears to have started a more detailed investigation into the timing of the actual receipt of the 300 million KRW from close associates who helped with the election campaign.

The prosecution also secured testimony that immediately after former special prosecutor Park lost the Korean Bar Association presidential election in January 2015, Mr. Nam comforted him by saying, "I am sorry I could not help you until the end," and "Regarding the Daejang-dong house and commercial space I promised, I have already told Man-bae hyung, so it will proceed well. Please do not be too discouraged and help so that the Daejang-dong project can proceed," to which former special prosecutor Park replied, "It's okay."

It is also reported that the prosecution obtained a notebook memo written by former special prosecutor Park this year while discussing investigation countermeasures with his associates, noting that "the Korean Bar Association presidential election funds could be a problem."

The prosecution is also summoning Park Mo, the executive director who oversaw Hwacheon Daeyu's management, to analyze the nature of the money received by former special prosecutor Park's daughter.

Former special prosecutor Park's daughter joined Hwacheon Daeyu in June 2016 through Kim's introduction and received an annual salary of about 60 million KRW until September 2021. Between September 2019 and February 2021, she borrowed a total of 1.1 billion KRW in five installments and purchased an apartment (exclusive area 84㎡) owned by Hwacheon Daeyu in June 2021 at half the market price, reportedly gaining about 800 million KRW in capital gains.

Regarding the 1.1 billion KRW loaned to former special prosecutor Park's daughter, Kim stated during the 2021 prosecution investigation that "it was for living expenses, etc. Previously, the daughter seemed to have a fairly high standard of living with Park's assistance, but as Park took on the special prosecutor role, his income decreased significantly, so he could no longer support her living expenses, which led to borrowing money."

The prosecution suspects that the daughter's gains may be part of the 5 billion KRW promised to former special prosecutor Park. Accordingly, after clarifying the nature and scale of the funds, they plan to consider whether additional charges can be applied to former special prosecutor Park.

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