Jang Kyung-tae on Additional Money Envelope Recording: "Intent to Leak Investigation Secrets..."

Jang Kyung-tae, a Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party of Korea, raised his voice regarding the additional release of a recorded file related to the 'Party Convention Money Envelope Suspicion,' saying, "The leak of investigation secrets once may be an accident, but if it continues twice or three times, it obviously has an intended purpose."

Earlier, on the 18th, JTBC released a recording file containing circumstances directly involving former Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil related to the 'money envelope suspicion.' The recording included a phone conversation between Kang Rae-gu, president of the Korea Audit Association, and Lee Jeong-geun, former deputy secretary-general of the Democratic Party.

In the recording, Kang said to Lee on April 10, 2021, ahead of the party convention, "I also mentioned that. Seongman hyung connected me a bit, so I shared it a little, that's what I told Young-gil hyung."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

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Regarding this, on the 19th, Council member Jang appeared on SBS Radio's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show' and said, "The recording file seems to be a stitched file, not the original," adding, "In any case, evidence items like recording files are usually kept very securely. But if accidents keep happening consecutively like this and investigation secrets are leaking, then the investigation team itself has a problem."

He touched on the suspicion that former deputy secretary-general Lee Jeong-geun gave 500,000 won each to 20 people including regional situation room chiefs and 3 million won each to 10 to 20 members of the National Assembly, suggesting it might be an old-fashioned practice. He said, "Such practices should disappear. Naturally, we can only apologize to the public," but also added, "Even assuming these parts are true, the amount is not very large."

He continued, "In fact, it is very unlikely that a member of the National Assembly would change their support for a party leader candidate because of 3 million won. The same goes for the situation room chiefs. 500,000 won is less than the cost of a month's meals."

Regarding lawmakers Lee Seong-man and Yoon Kwan-seok, who were booked over the money envelope suspicion, he said, "Both have already made personal statements at the party meeting last week. They are strongly asserting their innocence."

He added, "In the case of lawmaker Lee Seong-man, it is said that he received money from the former outside regional chairman (Lee Jeong-geun) and passed it on to the outside regional chairman. But Lee Jeong-geun was not even the deputy secretary-general at that time," and said, "Lawmaker Lee is a first-term lawmaker of advanced age. It is not logically convincing that an elderly incumbent lawmaker played the role of a messenger."

Furthermore, Council member Jang said, "There are many parts that raise suspicion," and added, "The Democratic Party is also looking into this more carefully and seriously."

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