Prosecutors Reveal 'Money Envelope Evidence' in Court: "Brother Younggil Did Well"

The prosecution revealed in court circumstances suggesting that former party leader Song Young-gil was also aware of the distribution of 'money envelopes' within the party ahead of the May 2021 Democratic Party convention.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 5th, during the trial of former Korea Water Resources Corporation Standing Auditor Kang Rae-gu at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 21-2 (Presiding Judges Kim Jeong-gon, Kim Mi-kyung, Heo Kyung-moo), the prosecution played the key evidence in the case, the 'Lee Jeong-geun recording.'

In the audio file, Mr. Kang said during a call with Mr. Lee on April 10, 2021, "I told Young-gil that Seong-man hyung connected me, so I distributed it a bit. I said, 'I greeted them with what Seong-man hyung prepared,' and he said, 'Well done.'" The prosecution explained that this supports the fact that Mr. Kang provided funds received from then-Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Seong-man to regional headquarters heads in March 2021 and reported this to former leader Song.

The prosecution also disclosed Kang’s statement to Lee, "Okay, I’ll tell Song (Young-gil) lightly." The recording played that day also contained content where then-Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Kwan-seok directly informed Lee that he delivered 30 million won received from Lee to incumbent lawmakers.

On the morning of April 28, after meeting with other lawmakers, Yoon told Lee, "About four people, including Kim Nam-guk and Yoon Jae-gap, couldn’t attend the morning meeting," adding, "Kim Nam-guk and Yoon Jae-gap are from Honam." Lee urged, "Oppa, you have to do it there, Honam must do it." Yoon also said, "I wasn’t going to give it to the two from Incheon and Jong-seong, but they said, 'Brother, give us some too,' so I lost three," and added, "I organized everything, but it’s still not enough." When Lee asked, "The same amount as yesterday?" Yoon replied, "Yes."

The prosecution believes that Yoon received an additional 30 million won at former leader Song’s campaign office that evening and distributed it to lawmakers the next day.

The prosecution also revealed circumstances indicating that Yoon met with former leader Song on the day he was identified as receiving the additional 30 million won. Lee said in a call with Kang, "Yoon came, stayed for a while, met with Song, talked for 30 minutes, and left."

The prosecution partially disclosed a list suspected to be members of the 'Planning Meeting,' a core group led by Yoon in the Song Young-gil campaign. Kang said in a call with Lee, "Only Yoon Kwan-seok, Im Jong-seong, Lee Seong-man, Heo Jong-sik, and Lee Yong-bin were included," adding, "We share opinions on the most important matters." The prosecution believes that the plan to distribute money envelopes to lawmakers was finalized at the Planning Meeting held on April 26.

The court decided to hold a hearing on the 19th to hear Kang’s side’s opinions on the evidence presented by the prosecution. Kang was arrested and indicted last May on charges of conspiring with Yoon, Lee, and others to distribute a total of 94 million won within the party to elect former leader Song at the Democratic Party convention from March to May 2021. Lawmaker Yoon and Mr. Park were also arrested and indicted on charges of involvement in the 'money envelope distribution.'

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