Key to investigation into Daejang-dong scandal

The prosecution on Thursday indicted Yoo Dong-gyu, former acting president of the Seongnam Development Corporation, for different charges from the ones based on which an arrest warrant was issued previously. It removed initial charges of dereliction of duty and acceptance of bribery worth 500 million won from Kim Man-bae, a large stakeholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management. This translates into only charges of receiving a 300-million-won bribery from Chung Jae-chang, a former business partner of the Wirye project, still being valid. However, even bribery providers in the charges linked to Yoo’s indictment changed to lawyer Nam Wook, accountant Chung Young-hak and Chung Jae-chang.

The prosecution decided whether to add charges of dereliction of duty depending on an additional inspection. As it is not an easy job to prove breach of duty in policy decision making, the focus is supposed to be on any monetary exchange between those involved. In a written arraignment, Yoo is indicted for being promised by Kim that he would receive 70 billion won in return. Although the amount of 350 million won that already turned out to have been received by Yoo is not a small sum of money per se, it is practically nothing given an astronomical profit earned by Kim. An empty promise of a large sum of fortune is not supposed to be used as a cover-up for what turned out to have been actually exchanged between the plotters. What matters is to discover as much money as possible that might have been received by Yoo or offered by him to those on the upper ladder. 　

It has already been discovered that an unimaginable amount of bribery was exchanged in a secret deal. Kim offered five billion won in the name of retirement pay and incentives to People Power Party’ Rep. Kwak Sang-do’s son. Former special prosecutor Park Young-soo’s daughter was able to buy an apartment unit possessed by Hwacheon Daeyu at a cheap price and will be offered retirement pay from the asset management firm. Park faces allegations of receiving monetary benefits from Hwacheon Daeyu via an in-law who was a proxy for apartment deals. The truth must be told to figure out why Kim offered them such a surprising amount of monetary returns.

Kim also paid a large sum of consultancy fees to around 30 advisors including former Supreme Court Justice Kwon Soon-il. He made as many as eight visits to then Supreme Court Justice Kwon around the time of a ruling of Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung’s violations against the Public Official Election Act. Considering cases of Rep. Kwak and former special prosecutor Park, there is suspicion about any behind-the-scenes deal forged other than consultancy fees. The gist of investigations into the scandal of the Daejang-dong project is to find out lobbying activities and special treatments committed and exchanged along with money actually transferred between the involved, whether it has already been revealed or is still hidden secretly.