[Exclusive] 'Lee Jae-myung's closest aide' Kim Yong arrested... Hundreds of millions of bribes before the presidential election

<Anchor>

Prosecutors have arrested Kim Yong, deputy director of the Institute for Democracy, a close aide to the Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung.

The allegation is that he received hundreds of millions of won from the former head of the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation's planning division, Yoo Dong-gyu.

The time the money is suspected of being received has been known since last year when CEO Lee Jae-myung registered as a presidential candidate.

This is an exclusive report by reporter Kim Kwan-jin.

<Reporter> The

3rd division of the anti-corruption investigation of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office executed an arrest warrant issued by the court on the morning of the 19th for Kim Yong, vice president of the Institute for Democracy, on charges of violating the Political Fund Act.

In addition, the home of Vice-Chairman Kim was also seized and searched.

Deputy director Kim Dong-gyu is accused of receiving hundreds of millions of won in illegal funds from former Seongnam Urban Development Corporation's planning division head Dong-gyu Dong and Wirye development-related private companies.

It is also known that the prosecution secured a statement from an official that the time when the money was suspected was when Lee Jae-myung, president of the Democratic Party, was preparing for the presidential election after registering as a presidential candidate.

Vice-Chairman Kim was a city council member in Seongnam City at the time of the Wirye New Town Development Project.

Vice-Chairman Kim, along with Jeong Jin-sang, head of the Political Affairs Coordination Office of the Democratic Party's representative office, is considered to be the closest aide to the Democratic Party's leader Lee Jae-myung.

In fact, when the suspicion of the Daejang-dong gate was raised in October of last year, CEO Lee said, "If you are an aide, you should be like Jeong Jin-sang and Kim Yong."

It was also revealed that two people who were on the phone with former general manager Yoo right before the search and seizure in September last year were also deputy director Kim Yong-yong and office manager Jeong Jin-sang.

Deputy Director Kim denied the allegations, saying, "The prosecution is creating crimes without the prosecution," but protested, saying, "I will do everything I can to correct the behavior of the prosecution, which engages in political manipulation."