Prosecutors Refile Arrest Warrant for Park Young-soo a Month After Dismissal... Additional '1.1 Billion Won Loan from Daughter' Included (Comprehensive)

The prosecution investigating the 'Daejang-dong 5 Billion Club' allegations refiled an arrest warrant for former special prosecutor Park Young-soo on the 31st. This comes one month after the first arrest warrant was dismissed.

Former Special Prosecutor Park Young-soo, who was indicted in the 'Fake Fisheries Businessman Bribery' case, is attending a trial held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 11th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

The Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Eom Hee-jun) filed the arrest warrant against former special prosecutor Park on charges of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act and receiving bribes under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. However, they did not refile an arrest warrant for former special prosecutor aide Yang, considering that the necessity for detention was not significant.

A prosecution official stated, "Through supplementary investigations, concrete evidence supporting the overall charges has been strengthened, and the grounds for detention are clear, so the warrant was refiled."

Former special prosecutor Park is accused of receiving a large sum of money, including 800 million won, in exchange for accommodating requests related to the Daejang-dong development project from private consortium members such as Nam Wook while serving as an outside director, chairman of the board, and audit committee member at Woori Bank.

Initially, Woori Bank considered participating as an investor in the Seongnam-e Deul consortium but ultimately did not participate in March 2015 due to opposition from the screening department. Instead, it submitted a letter of intent for project financing (PF) loans amounting to 150 billion won. As a result, the Seongnam-e Deul consortium received near-perfect scores in the 'funding' category of the private business operator evaluation and was selected as the preferred negotiation partner.

The prosecution suspects that former special prosecutor Park conspired with his closest aide, former special prosecutor aide Yang Jae-sik, and received promises of 20 billion won, land of unknown market value, and a single-family house to be built on it from Nam and others in relation to the consortium's investment and issuance of the letter of intent in November-December 2014. It is also understood that he actually received 300 million won in cash under the pretext of election funds for the Korean Bar Association president election in 2015.

The prosecution confirmed that Nam delivered a total of 30 million won in three installments in shopping bags to former special prosecutor Park through former aide Yang at the election campaign office and the Gangnam law firm office.

The prosecution reportedly secured statements that lawyers who helped the campaign at the time received at least 130 million won from former aide Yang. Additionally, numerous text messages containing information about recipients, dates, and amounts of money transfers were found on the mobile phone of lawyer Lee, who was in charge of overall election management, including funds, at the campaign.

Former special prosecutor Park is also accused of receiving 500 million won from Kim Man-bae and others in March-April 2015 as a bribe for issuing the letter of intent after Woori Bank's role was reduced, and promising a future 5 billion won.

The prosecution suspects that former special prosecutor Park received 500 million won from Kim, Nam, and accountant Jung Young-hak through Daejang-dong sales agent Lee Ki-sung, then sent the money back to Kim to be used as capital increase funds for Hwacheon Daeyu, thereby securing shares in the Daejang-dong project.

Furthermore, the prosecution newly applied charges of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, suspecting that former special prosecutor Park and his daughter Park Mo conspired to receive 1.1 billion won borrowed from Hwacheon Daeyu in five installments from September 2019 to February 2021.

Prosecution [Photo by Yonhap News]

The charge of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act is established if a public official or related person receives or demands money or valuables exceeding 1 million won per instance or 3 million won in total per fiscal year from the same person, regardless of job relevance.

Former special prosecutor Park served as the special prosecutor for the state affairs manipulation case from December 2016 to July 2021. However, the prosecution did not include in the charges the approximately 60 million won salary Park's daughter received from Hwacheon Daeyu from June 2016 to September 2021, nor the capital gains from purchasing an apartment owned by Hwacheon Daeyu at half the market price, as the conspiracy relationship with former special prosecutor Park was unclear.

After the arrest warrants for former special prosecutor Park and former aide Yang were dismissed once on the 30th of last month, the prosecution conducted intensive supplementary investigations targeting Park's family and lawyers from the same law firm who helped with his Bar Association president election.

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