Received 2 million won a month for 3 years without going to work by raising his name as an employee of SsangBall
Lee used 100 million won for 4 years… Payment for food, etc. even after KINTEX is represented
檢, investigating whether Ssang Bul-Bul gave benefits to former lawmaker Lee to approach Lee Jae-Myeong
While the prosecution is investigating former lawmaker Lee Hwa-young on charges of receiving 100 million won in bribes from the SsangBall Group, Mr. A, a close associate of Lee Hwa-Young, who was arrested on the 21st, was named as an employee of the former member of the SsangBall group. It is said that he received a salary. However, Mr. A said that he did not go to work or do related work at the Ssangbull office building. Prosecutors suspect that Ssang Bul-Bul bribed former lawmaker Lee in the name of Mr. A’s salary. On the same day, the prosecution requested an arrest warrant for Lee and Mr.
○ The salary of former lawmaker Lee Hwa-young is also paid.
According to the Dong-A Ilbo on the 22nd, it was reported that the 6th Detective Division of the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-nam) investigated the nature and use of tens of millions of won received from Ssang-Bul-Bul’s side in the name of salary against Mr.
Mr. A is known to have been close to the present after working with former member Lee, who was an aide in the office of Assemblyman B, who was a 3rd term member at the time of the 16th National Assembly. However, it is known that Mr. A received a monthly salary of about 2 million won after being named as an employee of Ssangbang-Bul from June 2019. However, Mr. A did not go to work at the Ssangbull office building, nor did he do any related work.
It is said that Mr. A’s salary continued until recently even after the prosecution began an investigation into the allegation of payment of attorney’s fees by Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the Democratic Party of Korea, and the case of betrayal and embezzlement of Ssangbull. It is known that over the past three years, Mr. A has received more than 70 million won in the name of salary.
Prosecutors suspect that Ssang Bul-Bul gave money to Mr. A as part of a bribe to former lawmaker Lee. In response, charges of embezzlement etc. are being applied to Ssang-Ball, and charges of embezzlement and aiding are being investigated against Mr. A.
○ Prosecutors request an arrest warrant for former lawmaker and aides
Prosecutors are also investigating the nature of the corporate card against Mr. Former lawmaker Lee served as an outside director of Ssangboll from March 2017 to June 2018, and received and used his corporate card. Shortly after Lee was elected governor of Gyeonggi-do in the local elections in June 2018, former lawmaker Lee was appointed as vice-governor of peace in Gyeonggi-do.
However, former lawmaker Lee continued to use SsangBul’s corporate card while serving as the deputy governor. He said that even after he took over as the CEO of Kintex in September 2020, he continued to use the corporate card for meals and living expenses.
Former lawmaker Lee stopped using the card only after it was known in a media report in November of last year that he was using the Ssangdrop corporate card. It is reported that former lawmaker Lee spent more than 100 million won on his Ssangdrop corporate card over the past four years.
Prosecutors reported that former lawmaker Lee used the Ssangdrop corporate card as a public official (Gyeonggi-do Lieutenant Governor) and public company executive (KINTEX CEO) as bribery, so he called for investigation on the 18th and requested an arrest warrant on the 22nd. An arrest warrant was also requested on the same day for Mr. A, who was arrested the day before, and Mr.
○ Prosecutor’s office, investigation into allegations of providing interest
Prosecutors are paying attention to the fact that Ssangbang-Bulle affiliates were interested in North Korea’s electricity infrastructure business and pushed ahead with the North Korean business from 2018 to 2020, when Lee served as the Gyeonggi-do deputy governor for peace. At that time, SsangBall also contributed hundreds of millions of won to an event in North Korea hosted by Gyeonggi-do and the Asia-Pacific Peace Association. In addition, they plan to investigate whether Ssang Bul-Bul gave various benefits to former lawmaker Lee in order to gain access to Lee.
Reporter Wonmo Yoo onemore@donga.com
Reporter Eunji Jang jej@donga.com