Kim Yong, former vice president of the Institute for Democracy, who was arrested and indicted for accepting illegal presidential campaign funds, denied the allegations in his first trial.
At the hearing of the 23rd Division of the Criminal Agreement of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Byung-gu Cho), on the 23rd, the first trial preparation for the alleged violation of the Political Fund Act, former Vice-President Kim’s side stated, “I have not received any money from Yoo Dong-gyu.”
Former vice-president Kim’s lawyer said, “Even though I have argued this several times, the prosecution has refused to testify until now because it has judged that it does not intend to listen to former vice-president Kim’s argument.” Former Vice President Kim, who is not required to attend, also appeared in court that day, but did not speak.
Former Deputy Director Kim’s side argued that the prosecution’s indictment was ‘violation of Japanese principles’. The Japanese principle of the indictment is a principle of criminal proceedings that the prosecution should submit only one indictment when filing an indictment, and that it should not cite any content that might cause prejudice. Deputy Director Kim’s side argued, “There are 20 indictments, but the basic crime facts are only 1 or 2, and the rest are premise facts.”
Dong-gyu Yoo, former head of the planning department of Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, and lawyers Min-yong Jeong and Wook Nam, who were handed over to trial along with former vice-president Kim, said, “We acknowledge the facts of the prosecution.”
Prosecutors showed confidence in proving former vice-director Kim’s allegations and confronted him. The prosecution said, “In this case, all the defendants, except for former vice-president Kim, acknowledge the facts.” He continued, “It can be said that it is rare to have such a solid evidence in a case of violation of the Political Fund Act.”
Regarding the claim of violation of the Japanese principle of the indictment, “To clarify the collusion or the motive for the crime, it was necessary to indicate specific facts, such as the Daejang-dong development project that the defendants had been working on for the past 10 years.” It is difficult to see it as a violation of caution,” he refuted.
The judge asked the prosecution to review the defendant’s claim and give an opinion. The judge said, “The prosecution’s position is understandable, but among the premise of the indictment, there is a content that is being investigated in another case. A judgment of guilt or innocence must be recognized in a separate trial,” he said. “There is a Supreme Court precedent that requires the deletion of content that violates the Japanese principle of the indictment.
Former Deputy Director Kim is accused of receiving 847 million won in the name of presidential election funds for Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung on four occasions in collusion with former general manager Yu and lawyer Jeong from April to August of last year, before and following the Democratic Party presidential election (Political Funds Act). violation) was handed over to trial.
