2023-10-02 18:00:00
In response to the Democratic Party’s claim of “376 seizures and searches,” “36 total since the investigation team was reorganized last year.”
It has been reported that the prosecution is considering a plan to indict Lee Jae-myeong, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, without detention, whose arrest warrant was dismissed on the 27th of last month, at the end of this month.
According to Dong-A Ilbo’s coverage on the 2nd, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office and Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office investigation teams went to work normally during the Chuseok holiday following the dismissal of the arrest warrant for CEO Lee for suspicions of preferential treatment for the Baekhyeon-dong development project and suspicion of involvement in Ssangbangwool Group’s suspicion of remittances to North Korea, and analyzed the reasons for the dismissal of the warrant. and conducted a supplementary investigation. A prosecution official said, “We are at the stage of re-planning our strategy while keeping all possibilities open.”
As the court, which dismissed the arrest warrant, stated that ‘Representative Lee’s criminal charges are not clear’ regarding the core charges of Baekhyeon-dong and the suspicion of sending money to North Korea, the prosecution is said to be completely reexamining the relevant evidence and the statements of those involved. Yoo Chang-hoon, chief judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, who was in charge of examining the warrant, said about the Baekhyeon-dong suspicions, “At this point, there is insufficient direct evidence (that Representative Lee was involved).” Regarding the suspicion of remittances to North Korea, he said, “There is room for dispute as to whether Representative Lee colluded and the extent of his involvement.”
Regarding the possibility of re-applying for an arrest warrant, the prosecution is only offering a general position, saying, “We are keeping all possibilities open and considering them.” However, the general opinion in the legal community is that in reality, it is not easy to request a warrant again. There is a high possibility that it will be dismissed again unless criminal charges or evidence are added, and since the regular National Assembly continues until the end of the year, if an arrest warrant is requested, the arrest warrant must be voted on again at the plenary session of the National Assembly.
Even if the matter is resolved through indictment without detention, it appears that it will take some time. An official from the legal community said, “Since the warrant was dismissed, we need to move forward more firmly,” and added, “It will not be easy to indict Representative Lee right away.” Previously, regarding the suspicions of Daejang-dong, Wirye, and Seongnam FC, the prosecution handed Representative Lee over to trial on March 22, about a month after the motion for his arrest was rejected in the National Assembly on February 27 this year.
The battle between the prosecution and Representative Lee continued regarding the number of search and seizures related to Representative Lee during the Chuseok holiday. The prosecution issued a statement on the 30th of last month in response to the Democratic Party’s claim that “seizure and search warrants amounted to 376 times,” and stated, “Since the investigation team was reorganized in June of last year, the number of search and seizure warrants has been issued and executed a total of 36 times.” He also said, “The warrant issued by the court was executed within the minimum necessary scope to uncover the true nature of large-scale corruption.”
Reporter Koo Min-ki [email protected]
Reporter Park Jong-min [email protected]
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