[Breaking] Former Gyeonggi Vice Governor Ihwa-young Sentenced to 9 Years and 6 Months in Prison... Convicted of Bribery and North Korea Remittance Charges

On the 7th at 2 p.m., the Suwon District Court Criminal Division 11 (Presiding Judge Shin Jin-woo) held the first trial sentencing hearing for Lee Hwa-young, former Deputy Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province, on charges including violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, violation of the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (bribery), violation of the Political Funds Act, and obstruction of justice by destroying evidence. The court found Lee guilty of most charges including bribery under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, violation of the Political Funds Act, violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, and obstruction of justice by destroying evidence, sentencing him to 9 years and 6 months in prison and a fine of 250 million KRW.

Earlier, the prosecution had requested a 12-year prison sentence, a fine of 1 billion KRW, and confiscation of approximately 334 million KRW for Lee’s bribery and Political Funds Act violations, and a 3-year prison sentence for violations of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act and obstruction of justice by destroying evidence.

On this day, the court sentenced Lee to 1 year and 6 months in prison for violating the Political Funds Act, and 8 years in prison with a fine of 250 million KRW and confiscation of 325.95 million KRW for bribery under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, and obstruction of justice. However, the court acquitted Lee of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act violation related to unauthorized payments for smart farm expenses.

The court stated that although some charges against Lee were acquitted, it did not issue separate not guilty verdicts because other charges, which are in a hypothetical concurrence relationship (where one act constitutes multiple crimes) or a single crime relationship (where multiple acts constitute one crime under comprehensive or legal concurrence), were found guilty.

Lee was arrested and indicted in October 2022 on charges of receiving bribes amounting to hundreds of millions of KRW and illegal political funds by receiving corporate cards and vehicles from Ssangbangwool Group from July 2018 to July 2022, and by having false salaries paid to his aides.

During the trial, in March of last year, he was additionally indicted on charges of having Kim Sung-tae, former chairman of Ssangbangwool, pay on his behalf a total of 8 million USD, including 5 million USD promised by Gyeonggi Province to North Korea for the smart farm project and 3 million USD for Lee’s visit to North Korea.

One month later, in April of last year, he was further indicted on charges of requesting Bang Yong-chul, vice chairman of Ssangbangwool, to delete data related to his use of corporate cards ahead of the prosecution’s investigation.

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