'5 Billion Club' Park Young-soo, First Prosecutor Investigation After Detention

Former special prosecutor Park Young-soo, suspected of involvement in the 'Daejang-dong 5 Billion Club' scandal, was summoned to the prosecution for the first time since his detention.

Former special prosecutor Park Young-soo, the key suspect in the 'Daejang-dong 5 Billion Club' case, is attending a pre-arrest hearing held on the 3rd at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

According to legal circles, on the afternoon of the 7th, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Eom Hee-jun) summoned former special prosecutor Park from Seoul Detention Center in the capacity of a suspect for questioning. This came four days after his detention on the 3rd.

The prosecution is reportedly pressing Park on the specific circumstances under which he received large sums of money and the nature of the funds from Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, and other members of the 'Daejang-dong team.'

Park is accused of receiving a total of 800 million won in bribes and promises of real estate between 2014 and 2015 while serving as an outside director, chairman of the board, and audit committee member at Woori Bank, in exchange for accommodating requests from private developers involved in the Daejang-dong project (charges under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, including bribery).

Initially, Woori Bank considered investing in the Seongnam-e Deul consortium, which was led by private developers from Daejang-dong, but ultimately decided not to participate in March 2015. Instead, the bank submitted a letter of intent for a project financing (PF) loan worth 150 billion won. As a result, the Seongnam-e Deul consortium received near-perfect scores in the 'fundraising' category of the private business operator evaluation and was selected as the preferred negotiation partner.

The prosecution believes that during this process, Park exerted influence to assist the private developers and, in return, was promised approximately 20 billion won from Nam Wook and others. It has also been confirmed that he actually received 30 million won in cash as campaign funds for the 2015 Korean Bar Association presidential election.

After Woori Bank's role was reduced to issuing the letter of intent between March and April 2015, the prosecution believes Park received 50 million won and was promised 5 billion won.

Additionally, it is alleged that between 2019 and 2021, while serving as a special prosecutor, Park received 1.1 billion won disguised as short-term loans from Hwacheon Daeyu through his daughter, leading to additional charges of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.

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