Lee Jae-myung, the head of the Democratic Party of Korea, was summoned to the prosecution.
While attending the prosecution, Representative Lee protested, saying, "It is the first summons of the head of the opposition party in constitutional history," and "a judicial coup that brings back a case that has already been investigated and disposed of without suspicion for several years."
The prosecution's investigation related to Lee is largely divided into two branches.
There are the 'Suspicion of donations to Seongnam FC' under investigation by the Seongnam branch of the Suwon District Prosecutor's Office, and the 'Suspicion of corruption in the development of Daejang-dong' under investigation by the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office.
This summons was an investigation into Lee at the Seongnam branch office in the Seongnam FC incident.
What's the matter?
Seongnam FC is a soccer team run by Seongnam citizens' taxes and is owned by the mayor of Seongnam.
Between 2015 and 2017, companies sponsored Seongnam FC, and Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myeong was the representative at the time.
A total of 16 billion won was donated, including 4.2 billion won from Doosan Engineering & Construction, 3.9 billion won from Naver, 3.6 billion won from Nonghyup, and 3.3 billion won from CHA Bundang Hospital.
The prosecution believes that the nature of this donation is money for companies to solve various licensing issues.
Representative Lee is claiming that Seongnam FC actually advertised according to the advertising contract.
In other words, the issue in this case is whether the money that companies gave to Seongnam FC was a 'bribe' to ask Seongnam City to solve their problems or an 'advertising fee' without a price.
explain a bit more
The beginning of the Seongnam FC investigation is the June 2018 local election phase.
This was the time when Lee, who served as mayor of Seongnam, was running for governor of Gyeonggi-do.
At the time, the Bareun Mirae Party raised the 'suspicion of donations' and accused the police of bribery to a third party.
In September 2021, the Bundang Police Station, which investigated the case, decided not to hand over the case to the prosecution due to insufficient evidence after conducting a written investigation on this representative.
When the Bareunmirae Party, who filed the accusation, filed an objection, the prosecution (Suwon District Prosecutor's Office, Seongnam Branch) looked into the case once again.
The prosecution investigation team requested the Supreme Prosecutor's Office to request financial data related to Naver's donation, but the Supreme Prosecutor's Office rejected it.
At the time, it was known through an SBS report that Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo called Seongnam Branch Office Director Park Eun-jeong directly and rejected it saying that there was a procedural problem.
At the time, it was controversial whether or not there was a 'unresolved investigation' for CEO Lee Jae-myeong, who was considered a strong candidate for the ruling party's president.
When the controversy arose, the prosecution ordered a supplementary investigation, and the Seongnam FC case went through the investigation from the beginning again.
That was March of last year.
After an 11-month supplementary investigation by the police and prosecutors and the controversy surrounding the investigation, even the summoning of Lee Jae-myeong, who is at the peak of the suspicion, was made.
one more step
The charges against Lee Jae-myung are similar to those of former President Park Geun-hye's Mir Foundation and K-Sports Foundation.
Both cases are related to 'third party bribery'.
Companies with pending issues to be resolved (Lotte, SK, etc. / Doosan E&C, Naver, etc.) do not directly give money to public officials (President / Seongnam Mayor) and solicit, but a third party designated by public officials (Mir-K Sports Foundation) / Seongnam FC) is a bribe in the form of sending money.
Former President Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 15 years in prison for bribery to a third party.
In the case of Lee Jae-myeong's case, the structure is the same as that of former President Park, but the facts must be examined by the court.
The key issue is whether there was 'unjust solicitation' and whether there was 'compensation'.
In other words, it must be proven that companies have donated to Seongnam FC in return for asking Seongnam City to solve the licensing problem.
Whether CEO Lee was aware of this fact and how involved he was in the decision are also important facts.
First of all, the prosecution believes that companies had pending issues to be resolved through Seongnam City, such as Doosan Engineering & Construction's change in land use and floor area ratio in Jeongja-dong, Naver's permission to build a second office building, and Cha Hospital's change in the use of the site for the former Bundang Police Station.
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