“Seongnam FC is an independent corporation”
“Seongnam city administration and Seongnam FC have nothing to do with it”
“archyde news expenses, not donations… archyde news money is used for the public good, not private profit.”
On the 17th, Lee Jae-myung, the head of the Democratic Party of Korea, released a statement on Facebook on 6 A4 pages submitted to the prosecution at the time of the Seongnam FC donation investigation a week ago.
In his statement, CEO Lee said, “The money paid (to Seongnam FC) is not a free donation, but rather the money that Seongnam FC actually advertised and received according to the contract.”
“The club received 5.8 billion won from Doosan for 3 years, 3.3 billion won from Cha Hospital for 3 years, and 4 billion won from Naver for 2 years and advertised. (Naver is a public service advertisement for Jubilee Bank).”
CEO Lee cited examples of Doosan E&C sponsoring Daegu FC for 2 years and STX Shipbuilding for Gyeongnam FC for 20 billion won for 5 years. Considering the club’s situation, Seongnam FC’s expenses are not excessive,” he pointed out.
▲ Lee Jae-myeong, chairman of the Democratic Party of Korea, speaks at the general meeting of lawmakers held at the National Assembly on the 17th. 2023.1.17 Yonhap News
Regarding the change of use of the site of Doosan E&C, which was discussed in exchange for donations, he emphasized that “the site was a monstrosity that had been neglected for nearly 20 years.”
At the same time, he explained, “If the use is changed, but some of the profits are returned and companies are attracted, Seongnam City (tax collection, legislation), the local community (jobs, commercial district revitalization, solving ugly things), and Doosan (asset utilization) all benefit.”
“Instead of changing the use and increasing the floor area ratio, Seongnam City received donations of 301 pyeong (10% of the site, regarding 11 billion won), attracted 7 Doosan affiliates, and resolved the complaints of ugly things,” said CEO Lee.
CEO Lee also changed the way the former mayor purchased the land through a private contract to a competitive bidding for the land where Naver was located, and sold it to Naver, which needed a second office building, and received regarding 16 billion won more for the land, and said that there was no violation of the law in this process. revealed
In addition, he said, “The contract is the performance of the club’s executives and employees’ sales activities, which have nothing to do with the administration of Seongnam City, and I have never been involved in the club’s sales.”
Representative Lee said, “I have never requested advertisements from companies in exchange for administration, nor have I conducted administration in exchange for or in connection with advertisements, nor have I received such a request from companies, nor have I instructed or authorized public officials to do so. ”he added.
At the same time, he explained, “There is no reason for the mayor or public officials who have no personal interest in revenue to mobilize administrative power to attract advertisements unreasonably to save the city budget and risk criminal punishment.”
Representative Lee emphasized once more, “archyde news expenses were used for the public interest, not for private gain.”
Lastly, he pointed out that “the punishment for bribery and bribery to a third party is the same,” and “it is not right to punish a public official in the same way as in the case of taking private interests when they acted in the public interest without pursuing private interests.”
The disclosure of the statement in a situation where the prosecution notified of the summons and investigation once more in relation to the suspicion of ‘corruption in the development of Wirye and Daejang-dong’ is interpreted as Lee’s intention to show that it is irrelevant to the various suspicions currently raised.
Reporter Kwon Yoon-hee
