Former Dongdaemun District Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol, who was accused of instructing to sign a multi-billion won private contract with a specific construction company, was acquitted in the first trial.

'No Guilty Verdict in First Trial for Former Dongdaemun-gu Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol in Private Contract with Specific Company' View original image

On the 20th, Judge Lee Seok-jae of the Criminal Division 5 at the Seoul Northern District Court acquitted former Mayor Yoo, who was indicted on charges including abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights.


The judge stated, "There is no confirmation that the defendant instructed the responsible manager to conclude the private contract," and added, "There is insufficient evidence that any cash or gift certificates given by the contractor were delivered to the defendant."


He continued, "When a complaint was raised regarding mishandling of the construction payment process, the defendant called the responsible officials and told them to take responsibility and resolve the issue, which falls within the legitimate exercise of authority as a district mayor," and added, "It is insufficient to recognize that he instructed the officials to resolve the matter even at their own expense."


Earlier, former Mayor Yoo was indicted on charges of instructing a responsible official to sign a private contract worth around 200 million won with a specific construction company during the process of promoting the Dong Resident Center space improvement project in 2016.


Additionally, the prosecution identified that Kim, a contractor from the company that signed the contract, delivered a bribe worth approximately 20 million won to former Mayor Yoo through a construction brokerage agent.



Furthermore, former Mayor Yoo was also charged with forcing his subordinate, Lee, to deliver money in May and December 2018 to cover up the bribery after Kim threatened to expose the bribery to the media, claiming he had not received the construction payment.


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

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