檢, ‘Suspicion of money envelopes’ arrest warrant for Kwan-seok Yoon and Seong-man Lee｜The Dong-A Ilbo

In addition, the prosecution, which is investigating the Democratic Party’s “suspicion of money envelopes at the convention,” requested arrest warrants for two people, including independent lawmaker Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Seong-man, who defected from the Democratic Party. It is the first time that an arrest warrant has been requested for an incumbent member of the National Assembly in the case of the ‘money envelope’.

On the 24th, the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office’s Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-chul) requested arrest warrants for Rep. Yoon and Rep. Lee on charges of violating the political party law. The prosecution is said to have judged that there is a great need for arrest and investigation as Rep. Yoon and Rep. Lee either completely deny the charges or refuse to testify at all, and the circumstances of the destruction of evidence have been confirmed. An official from the prosecution said, “It is a serious crime that undermines the foundation of constitutional order by damaging the election system.”

Rep. Yoon is accused of distributing a total of 60 million won to Democratic Party lawmakers for the election of former representative Song Young-gil ahead of the party convention in late April 2021. It was investigated that Rep. Yoon received 60 million won on two occasions by telling officials from the primary camp, including former head of the Korea Auditors Association (in prison) Kang Rae-gu, to the effect of “I will provide money and valuables to members of the National Assembly.” Afterwards, they gave 20 envelopes containing 3 million won each to the lawmakers, asking them to give ‘orders (orders)’ for representatives from each region to take pictures of former CEO Song or to maintain their support. An official from the prosecution explained, “‘Order’ is an expression that appeared in related materials obtained by the prosecution through seizure and search.”

For the election of former representative Song, Congressman Lee gave 1 million won to former Democratic Party Secretary General Lee Jeong-geun (in prison) in the middle of March 2021 in the name of operating expenses for the primary camp, and at the end of March, former chairman Kang and others received 1,000 cash for spraying the regional headquarters. accused of giving ten thousand won. In addition, at the end of April, he is accused of accepting 3 million won after receiving an ‘order’ from Congressman Yoon to recruit a representative.

Rep. Yoon issued a statement that day and said, “I can’t help but feel terrible beyond anger at the prosecution’s behavior of recklessly arresting me, who has no fear of fleeing or destroying evidence.” ” he said. Rep. Lee also said, “The request for a warrant is just one step and a political act in which the prosecution has already decided on the answer that they are guilty.”

Reporter Jang Eun-ji [email protected]
Reporter Park Jong-min [email protected]