Prosecutors Summon Hong Seon-geun, MoneyToday Chairman... 'Daejangdong 5 Billion Club' Allegations

by Kong Byeongseon

Published 25 Jul.2024 17:54(KST)

Updated 25 Jul.2024 17:59(KST)

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The prosecution summoned and questioned Hong Seon-geun, chairman of Money Today, regarding allegations that high-ranking legal officials and journalists received money from developers involved in the Daejang-dong project.

Prosecutor's flag fluttering in the wind [Photo by Yonhap News]

According to the legal community on the 25th, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 3 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Seung-hak) recently summoned Chairman Hong as a suspect for questioning.

Chairman Hong is suspected of borrowing 5 billion KRW from Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management and a former Money Today reporter, around October 2019, and repaying only the principal two months later. At that time, Kim was a senior reporter (deputy bureau chief) at Money Today and had received dividends from private developers involved in the Daejang-dong project seven months prior. Chairman Hong was also summoned once by the prosecution in November 2021 in connection with these allegations.

The "Daejang-dong 5 Billion KRW Club" allegations involve claims that legal and media figures received large sums of money from Hwacheon Daeyu, which invested in the Daejang-dong project. Besides Chairman Hong, former Blue House Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Choi Jae-kyung, former special prosecutor Park Young-soo, former People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do, former Prosecutor General Kim Soo-nam, and former Supreme Court Justice Kwon Soon-il are also known to be involved in these allegations.