Prosecution Detains and Indicts Yoon Kwan-seok... First Trial of Active Lawmaker in 'Money Envelope Scandal' (Comprehensive)

Yoon Kwan-seok, an independent lawmaker, was indicted on the 22nd over the '2021 Democratic Party Convention Money Envelope Scandal.' This is the first case of an incumbent lawmaker becoming a defendant since the investigation into the money envelope scandal began in April.

The Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-chul) indicted Yoon on charges of violating the Political Parties Act.

Independent lawmaker Yoon Kwan-seok is appearing at the Seoul District Court on the 4th for the substantive hearing of the arrest warrant as a key suspect in the "money envelope incident." Photo by Heo Young-han younghan@

According to the prosecution, Yoon is accused of receiving a total of 60 million won from primary election camp officials to provide to incumbent Democratic Party lawmakers in support of former party leader Song Young-gil's election ahead of the May 2021 Democratic Party convention.

As concerns grew over former leader Song's nationwide delegate support rate falling behind in the days leading up to the election, from April 24 to 28 of that year, Yoon reportedly proposed to primary camp officials, including Kang Rae-gu, former Standing Auditor of Korea Water Resources Corporation, and Lee Jung-geun, former Deputy Secretary-General of the Democratic Party, that "since the rival candidate's camp is distributing 3 million won to each lawmaker, we should also give that amount to our lawmakers."

Subsequently, Park Yong-soo, who served as an aide to former leader Song, received 50 million won from businessman Kim, who was identified as a so-called 'sponsor,' and combined with funds within the camp, provided Yoon with 60 million won in two installments, according to the prosecution.

The prosecution believes that on April 28 and 29, under the pretext of ordering regional delegates to vote for former leader Song, Yoon distributed 20 money envelopes containing 3 million won each to Democratic Party lawmakers at the National Assembly Main Building's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee small conference room and the Members' Office Building.

Initially, Yoon intended to distribute 30 million won to attendees of the 'National Assembly Members' Meeting' supporting former leader Song, but since some did not attend, the money was given to other lawmakers present at the scene. To deliver cash to lawmakers who had not yet received it, he reportedly obtained an additional 30 million won and distributed it while moving around the Members' Office Building.

However, the prosecution did not include the money envelope distribution charges in Yoon's indictment to allow for further investigation. The list of up to 20 lawmakers who allegedly received money was also not specified.

Earlier, during Yoon's pretrial detention hearing on the 4th, the prosecution disclosed a list of 19 lawmakers to explain the situation regarding the identification of lawmakers who received money, but plans to conduct supplementary investigations to specify this more clearly.

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