The court has dismissed the arrest warrant for Kwak Sang-do.
Judge Seo Bo-min of the Seoul Central District Court explained the reason for the dismissal, saying, "It seems that the suspect's right to defend is necessary because there is room for contention, but there is a lack of explanation about the reason for the arrest and the necessity and relevance."
Prosecutors requested an arrest warrant for Kwak on charges of mediation in the sense that former lawmaker Kwak helped Hwacheon Daeyu during the Daejang-dong project in 2015 and paid for it.
There have been suspicions that former lawmaker Kwak helped Hwacheon Daeyu to form a Daejang-dong business consortium with Hana Bank.
Prosecutors believe that the 5 billion won that Hwacheon Daeyu paid to the son of former lawmaker Kwak in the name of severance pay was the price of this help.
After completing the warrant review this afternoon, former Rep. Kwak countered that there was no evidence of the allegations related to the request, saying, "The details, date, and place of the request did not come out exactly."
(Photo = Yonhap News)