On a holiday last Saturday, Suwon District Prosecutors' Office 3 (Director Jeong-seop Lee), who is investigating the suspicion of'Illegal Withdrawal of Kim Hak', summoned and investigated the Blue House Civil Affairs Secretary Lee Gwang-cheol.
The investigation team, which suspected that the secretary actually directed the process of prosecutor Lee Gyu-won's banning Kim Hak's former vice-minister from leaving the country with false documents last year, conducted an investigation for 10 and a half hours.
The investigation team is not planning to call this secretary again.
Based on the daily investigation, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office is discussing whether to prosecute this secretary, but it is said that the process is not easy.
Secretary Lee Gwang-cheol's charges related to'illegal withdrawal' are also closely related to the so-called'planning affairs' suspicion of Kim Hak-gun, which is being investigated by the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office (Chief Prosecutor Byun Pil-gun).
The Central District Prosecutor's Office transferred prosecutor Lee Gyu-won's allegations related to the'planning situation' to the airlift, but has not received an answer for more than a month whether the airlift will investigate the case directly or return the case.
In the case of Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Lee Seong-yoon, who is accused of interfering with the alleged ``illegal withdrawal'' investigation, it seems that the airborne agency, which relocated to the prosecution relatively quickly, seems to have quite strong willingness to directly investigate the case of prosecutor Lee Gyu-won.
This is because unlike when the case of the District Prosecutor's Office Lee Seong-yoon was transferred, the basic requirements for selecting new prosecutors and investigators to conduct an investigation were in place.
In the midst of this, the Ministry of Public Service distributed promotional materials that it held workshops on investigation techniques over the past week and this week.
Last Sunday, a press release stating that the'Human Rights-Friendly Investigation Techniques Workshop' was held, and yesterday's promotional material that a new prosecutor's'workshop to strengthen investigation and work competency' was held.
However, with various controversies and political schedules increasing the scale of the investigation of this case, it may be a task for the airlifter who has not made a decision to re-transfer the case to promote the workshop in the future.'
Lee Gwang-cheol's prosecution,'Illegal withdrawal' was recognized?
Closely related to the central district prosecution investigation
There is another important issue for Suwon District Prosecutors' Office to judge the prosecution against Secretary Lee Kwang-cheol, as well as whether the secretary has a'withdrawal order'. Whether this secretary recognized the illegality of Kim Hak's withdrawal from the former vice-minister.
Last year, when former Vice Minister Kim Hak's suddenly attempted to flee abroad, a re-examination of the past was in full swing, and no full-scale investigation was underway. For this reason, former Vice Minister Kim was not legally a suspect. Nevertheless, it was investigated that prosecutor Gyu-won Lee communicated with secretary Lee Kwang-cheol, such as sending an emergency withdrawal request, and executed an emergency withdrawal for former Vice Minister Kim, not the suspect. Secretary Lee Kwang-cheol was known to have been involved in the withdrawal process by contacting Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won as well as Immigration Headquarters of the Ministry of Justice Cha Gyu-geun.
Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won, who executed an emergency withdrawal at the time, stated in the emergency withdrawal request that'to be requested for investigation of bribery charges' was the reason for the ban on leaving the country. In the <Yoon Jung-cheon 2nd Interview Report> obtained by SBS, you can get a glimpse of some of the charges of bribery, former Vice Minister Kim recognized by Prosecutor Gyu-won Lee. In the <Yun Jung-cheon 2nd Interview Report> written by Prosecutor Gyu-won Lee on December 28, 2018, about three months before Kim Hak's departure from the country, Yoon Jung-cheon ``was mingled with several prosecutors, but among them, Kim Hak-eui and Han Sang-dae were given tens of millions of won in cash each. It is said to have stated that there is. Considering the progress of the investigation against former Vice Minister Kim at the time, it seems likely that Prosecutor Gyu-won Lee recognized the allegations of sexual entertainment as a bribe. In order to get rid of the charges of'illegal withdrawal' that prosecutors Gyu-won Lee and Secretary Gwang-cheol Lee are currently receiving, it must be premised that they recognized the'bribery charge' in Kim Hak's withdrawal request as a legitimate reason for withdrawal.
However, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office judged that Prosecutor Gyu-won Lee knew that it was difficult for former Vice Minister Kim's bribery charges to be established at the time, and it is said that the prosecutor Gyu-won Lee stated this information. In addition, charges of exaggeration and distortion of <Yun Jung-cheon's 2nd Interview Report>, in which'Kim Hak's bribery charges' are recorded, are also rising. At the time, secretary Lee Gwang-cheol, who was in charge of the anti-corruption policy of the Blue House at the time, was in charge of the senior administrative officer, and to what extent he communicated with prosecutor Lee Gyu-won, who was usually closely related, and in the process, this secretary was charged with'Kim Hak's bribery'. It seems likely to be an important issue in the judgment of the secretary's prosecution to see if he knew that was not enough.
It's the news of the case sent by the airlift...
Is it appropriate to promote'Learning Investigation'?
The problem is that the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office Criminal Division 1 investigation must be carried out together in order to accurately assess this point.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office is investigating the allegations of the'planning affair', and is investigating the falsehood of the <Interview Report with Yoon Joong-cheon> written by Prosecutor Gyu-won Lee, and the investigation that was speeding up has recently been sluggish.
The investigation team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office reported that prosecutor Gyu-won Lee falsely wrote the <Interview Report>, which is the investigation data, and that it was also involved in leaking the investigation data to the media.
However, the Ministry of Public Affairs remains silent for more than a month whether it will return the case to the central district prosecutor's office or investigate directly.
As this decision continues to be postponed, it is said that the Central District Prosecutors' Office has not yet decided on the schedule for summoning Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won and Secretary Lee Gwang-cheol, accused of being an accomplice.
In this situation, the Ministry of Public Transport has been promoting the workshops one after another.
The purpose of this is that newly appointed prosecutors are eagerly learning investigation techniques from invited instructors, which in other words proclaims themselves that the prosecutors of the airborne are not yet in a state of full-scale investigation.
However, compared to the workshop promotion where the guest lecturer and the lecture contents are explained in relatively detail, there is very little explanation as to why it takes a long time to deal with the case of Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won.
Reporters are asking questions about why the decision is being postponed every time they go to work, but only the answers saying'under review' or'viewing the records' are repeated.
However, not many lawyers will convince you that reviewing this case record will take more than a month.
Attorney General Park Beom-gye, who must handle various schedules, did not take too long to review the hundreds of thousands of pages of former Prime Minister Han Myung-sook's alleged perjury case.
The deputy judge of a court in Seoul pointed out, "To say that the reason why the judgment is taking so long is because it takes time to look at the records is a self-confidence of lack of skill."
Before publicizing that'I'm learning the investigation', give specific reasons, and explain to the public that the prosecutor Lee Gyu-won case has the right to investigate directly, and that it is a case that can be investigated directly. is.
Postponing the decision on whether to relocate the case and promoting that'you are eagerly learning the investigative technique' means that you are not ready for an investigation yet, but you have a case.
It is like inviting criticism of self-confidence.
The trap behind the promotion of the workshop before the decision to relocate
The airlift's move may come back later. Let's assume that the air defense agency directly investigates the case of prosecutor Lee Gyu-won, who was transferred from the central district prosecutor, and prosecutes this prosecutor. Prosecutors Gyu-won Lee must accept the prosecution decision made by prosecutors from the airlift, who are advertised as just learning to investigate. Even if the Ministry of Public Affairs and Defense dismisses prosecutor Gyu-won Lee without prosecution, it is difficult to avoid criticism from opposition forces that'the prosecutors who were in the workshop investigated and dismissed the cotton bat.' As can be seen in the recent controversy over Kim Hak's re-investigation of former vice-ministers, the reason for the non-prosecution written by the investigative agency has become a world that is highly evaluated by history and public opinion.
Deferring the decision to relocate and conducting the workshop also contradicts the agency's own goal of'human rights-friendly and rigorous investigation of high-ranking officials'. The most efficient and accurate investigative agency should investigate and, if there are no charges, promptly dismiss the charges, and if allegedly, the prosecution should be accurately judged so that the accused can be prepared for trial. This is a way to prevent the human rights of suspects from being violated through unnecessary and excessive investigations while strict criminal investigations of high-ranking officials are carried out. It is not a'strict investigation' or'human rights friendliness' to provide investigation training to new prosecutors while holding the case.
From the point of view of the airborne ministry, you may think that'I catch the pod even though I am learning hard', but it is important to give the public the impression of'working properly' even if it takes time rather than publicizing'I am learning hard'. Even though it is a new institution, the members of the airborne department operated by taxes should be professional professionals, not amateurs in the training army.
The agency's public relations must have clear goals and strategies. For smaller start-ups like Airlift, this is even more important. Even now, the Ministry of Public Affairs must make a quick decision as to whether or not to re-assign the prosecutor Lee Gyu-won case, or give a convincing explanation if the decision takes more time. There is something more important than promoting the workshop to the Ministry of Public Transport.
(Photo = Yonhap News)