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Kim Yong, vice president of the Institute for Democracy, who is accused of receiving 800 million won in illegal political funds during the last presidential election, was arrested early today (22nd).
The court issued an arrest warrant for Vice President Kim, saying that there is a risk of destroying evidence.
With the arrest of a close aide to Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, an investigation into Lee Jae-myung's illegal presidential campaign is expected to begin in earnest.
Correspondent Park Chan-geun.
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At around 0:50 this morning, about 7 hours after the conclusion of the warrant substantive examination, an arrest warrant was issued for Kim Yong, vice president of the Institute for Democracy.
The Seoul Central District Court announced that it would issue an arrest warrant for Vice Chairman Kim, who is accused of violating the Political Fund Act, saying, "There is a risk of destroying evidence."
Earlier, Deputy Director Kim's lawyer had denied the allegations, but could not avoid issuing an arrest warrant.
[Attorney Kim Ki-pyo / Vice President Kim Yong's attorney: The
prosecution's crime facts are not true, so we have argued enough about the unfair point, and I believe that (the court) will judge well because our claims are probably correct.]
He is accused of conspiring with former Seongnam Urban Development Corporation's planning division head Dong-gyu Dong between August and receiving 847 million won from Attorney Nam-wook four times.
However, it is known that deputy director Kim returned 100 million won out of 800 million won to former general manager Yoo since the alleged corruption in Daejang-dong began to be reported in the media last year.
Vice-Chairman Kim oversaw the election process as deputy general manager of Lee Jae-myung's camp during last year's Democratic presidential primary.
So, as indicated in the warrant, the prosecution suspects the nature of this money as a presidential campaign fund for candidate Lee Jae-myung's camp.
Since the prosecution has secured the new recruits for Vice-President Kim, it is expected that the investigation will begin in earnest as to whether President Lee was aware of the use of this money and the fact that Vice-President Kim received political funds.