2023-05-04 17:01:00
Cho Woo-hyung, who is considered the ‘hidden core’ of the corruption scandal in the Daejang-dong development project, enters the courtroom to receive an arrest warrant review (interrogation of the suspect before arrest) held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the morning of the 4th. yunhap news
On the 4th, the court dismissed the prosecution’s request for an arrest warrant for Jo Woo-hyung, who is considered the ‘hidden key’ in the corruption suspicion of the Daejang-dong development project.
Lee Min-su, chief judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, dismissed the arrest warrant after reviewing the arrest warrant for Mr. Cho (interrogation of the suspect before arrest). Chief Judge Lee said, “When considering the progress of the trial of the related case, the evidence collected regarding the crimes in this case, and the current status of evidence expected to be collected in the future, the need to arrest the suspect (Mr. Cho) at this stage is clear. It is difficult to see that it is recognized,” he said, explaining the reason for the dismissal.
Presiding judge Lee took into consideration the fact that many of the people involved in the Daejang-dong breach of trust case, including Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party representative, and Yoo Dong-gyu, former head of the planning headquarters of the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, are being tried without detention, and that it is expected that this trial will take a considerable period of time to conclude. did. Chief Judge Lee said, “There are various issues in this case, such as whether the suspect (Mr. Cho) and those involved have constituted a crime, the specific contribution between the accomplices who took part, and the amount of damages due to breach of trust.” Mr. Cho) also seems to need to be tried without detention.”
Mr. Cho is accused of taking development profits of 788.6 billion won with private contractors and causing damages of 489.5 billion won to the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation by raising funds for the early Daejang-dong project using official secrets such as information on the opening of the Seopangyo Tunnel in March and April 2015. (violation of the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act, breach of duty under the Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes Act). While he is the actual owner of Cheonhwa-dong No. 6, he is also accused of receiving 28.3 billion won from Daejang-dong development profits (violation of the Criminal Proceeds Concealment Control Act) under the name of attorney Cho Hyun-seong.
The 3rd Anti-Corruption Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (Chief Prosecutor Kang Baek-sin) requested an arrest warrant for Mr. Cho on the 1st. It has been 1 year and 6 months since the related suspicions were raised. It was only on the 6th of last month that the prosecution investigated the suspicion of Mr. Cho in earnest through a search and seizure, and it was pointed out that it was a’procrastination investigation’.
Mr. Cho has a deep relationship with former special prosecutor Park Young-soo, who is suspected of the 5 billion club. In 2011, when the Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office investigated Mr. Cho while investigating the corruption of Busan Savings Bank, Mr. Cho’s lawyer was former special prosecutor Park. At the time, the Central Investigation Department secured a statement to the effect of ‘a loan brokerage fee of 1.03 billion won to Mr. Cho’ and account tracking data, but did not even prosecute Mr. Cho. Regarding this, suspicions were raised that the friendship between former special prosecutor Park and President Yoon Seok-yeol, who was the chief prosecutor in the Busan Savings Bank investigation as the head of the 2nd division of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office at the time, played a role.
At the plenary session on the 27th of last month, the National Assembly designated the 5 billion club and first lady Kim Kun-hee’s special prosecutor bill as a fast track.
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