Consistently silently answered the question “Do you deny the allegations?”
Police, policy to check the facts of allegations such as corporate card payment
There are also observations that the investigation is nearing completion.
Kim Hye-kyung, the spouse of lawmaker Lee Jae-myung, who challenged the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, appeared directly at the police to receive an investigation into the alleged misuse of corporate cards.
Kim appeared as a suspect in the anti-corruption and economic crime investigation team of the Gyeonggi Southern Police Agency at 1:45 pm that day.
Kim, who got out of the vehicle with a lawyer, was consistent in answering reporters’ questions, such as “Does he deny the allegations” and “Does this lawmaker know anything regarding using corporate cards?” Kim passed the photo line without any change in expression and headed into the building where the investigation room was located.
Earlier, the police sent a request for attendance to Kim on the 9th. Kim’s side coordinated the schedule and appeared at the police following two weeks. This is the first time Kim has appeared at the police station to receive an investigation into the case.
The police are planning to check the facts of the overall suspicion once morest Kim, such as whether he paid for personal food with a Gyeonggi corporate card through a senior 5th grade mother in the General Affairs Division of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Office, or was issued an illegal prescription in the name of another person.
Kim is expected to deny the allegations during a police investigation. Prior to this day’s attendance, Mr. Kim’s side said, “Kim Hye-kyung is attending the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency around 2 pm today (23rd) for a corporate card-related investigation, such as the so-called ‘78,000 won incident’.” directly disclosed.
He denied the allegations, saying, “There is solid evidence that Kim was unaware of whether or not he was using a corporate card, but it is regrettable that the police are even subpoenaed and investigated.”
The investigation into Kim is expected to continue for a long time. This is because there is a lot of information to be investigated, and it takes a considerable amount of time to read the report following the investigation.
However, there are speculations that the investigation will end with one summons on this day. This is because the statute of limitations for public prosecution (September 9) is nearing due to tangled cases of violations of the Public Official Election Act. It is physically difficult to coordinate the summons once more with Kim, and the burden on the police is considerable as Rep. Lee, who is holding the Democratic National Convention, has his last schedule this weekend.
There are also observations that the investigation is almost complete, as the police directly called and investigated Kim, who has been pointed out as the ‘superior’ of the suspicion.
Meanwhile, in December of last year, the People’s Power claimed that “Kim had Ms. Bae as an assistant secretary for three years from 2018,” and raised suspicions that “Isn’t the three-year salary of an officer paid with blood taxes used for the ‘Kim Hye-kyung protocol’?” filed Lawmaker Lee and her spouses Kim and Bae were accused of abuse of power and loss of the national treasury.
In February of this year, Kim mobilized public officials for private errands, such as food delivery and housework, and charged additionally with suspicions of paying for personal food with a Gyeonggi corporate card or obtaining illegal prescriptions in the name of another person.
In addition, on March 25, the Gyeonggi Provincial Office submitted a complaint to the police for allegations of embezzlement and business negligence along with the entire corporate card usage history from July 2018 to September last year, when Bae worked.
After examining the contents of the complaint, the police seized and searched 129 places, including the Gyeonggi Provincial Office and restaurants where corporate cards were used, and analyzed the obtained data.
In the course of the investigation of related persons, an acquaintance of Bae’s 40-year-old B, who was investigated as a reference, took his life on the 26th of last month by making an extreme choice at his home. Mr. B’s connection with Rep. Lee’s side has been constantly raised, as it appears that Rep. Lee has a history of working as a driver in a candidate’s camp at the time of the presidential election.
In this regard, Rep. Lee made a position to the effect that Mr. B was driving at the camp, but he did not drive Kim’s car, but was in charge of driving another car that was driven in front of his spouse’s car.
Eunbit Koh, reporter at Hankyung.com [email protected]
