Pretrial hearing for DP chief Lee Jae-myung begins

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Pretrial hearing for DP chief Lee Jae-myung begins

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung attends a roundtable on artificial intelligence at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul on Thursday. [YONHAP]

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung attends a roundtable on artificial intelligence at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul on Thursday. [YONHAP]

 
The pretrial hearing for Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung, who faces multiple criminal charges, including breach of trust, conflict of interest, corruption, bribery and concealment of criminal proceeds, opened at the Seoul Central District Court on Thursday.
 
Lee was not present for the hearing as it is a procedural meeting for defendants' lawyers to submit a guilty or not guilty plea on their behalf and for the presiding judge to determine the order in which evidence is presented during subsequent trial sessions.
 
But Lee's lawyers objected to the trial schedule proposed by the bench at the pretrial hearing, arguing that the main trial sessions, such as the interrogation of witnesses, "cannot proceed until all evidence has been reviewed," which they claimed could take months if not years.
 
Prosecutors at Thursday's hearing expressed concern about the delays proposed by Lee's lawyers.
 
"Evidence presented for examination in other politicians' cases is often wider in scale, but their lawyers never demanded the trials be pushed back by months or years," the prosecution said.
 
In response to the objections about the trial schedule from Lee's lawyers, the court bench proposed that the trial proceed while evidence continues to be reviewed concurrently.
 
The DP leader stands accused of inflicting approximately 489.5 billion won ($374 million) in financial damages on the publicly owned Seongnam Development Corporation by approving the removal of profit-sharing restrictions on the Daejang-dong project, enabling private contractors to pocket disproportionately large profits.
 
Lee is also accused of sharing inside information with private contractors about a development project in Wirye, which spans the southern portion of Seoul's Songpa District and northern Sujeong District in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, and allowing them to reap profits of 21.1 billion won.
 
Both the Wirye and Daejang-dong projects, which started in 2013 and 2015, respectively, were led by mixed public-private consortiums and launched during Lee's term as mayor of Seongnam.
 
Several people played key roles in both developments, including Yoo Dong-kyu, the former acting president of the Seongnam Development Corporation, as well as lawyer Nam Wook and former journalist Kim Man-bae, the alleged owner of a small asset management company called Hwacheon Daeyu.
 
Hwacheon Daeyu raked in a profit of 57.7 billion won ($48.3 million) since 2019 on an investment of 49.95 million won in the mixed public-private consortium that spearheaded the Daejang-dong development.
 
The company's investment amounted to a 1 percent stake in the consortium.
 
Hwacheon Daeyu also made 300 billion won in sales of apartments built through the development, while its Cheonhwa Dongin affiliates reaped an additional 400 billion won in profits.
 
Yoo, who has also been indicted on charges of committing bribery and breach of trust in the Daejang-dong project, is likewise accused of using internal information to give preferential treatment to private investors in the Wirye New Town project in return for bribes.
 
Kim and Nam, whom prosecutors believe is the owner of Cheonhwa Dongin No. 4, were indicted and detained for investigation under suspicion of having committed bribery and breach of trust in November 2021.
 
Kim also faces accusations that he attempted to hide 34 billion won from the Daejang-dong development project in a safe in an apartment registered under another person's name between October 2021 and November 2022 and that he tried to hide an additional 14.2 billion won by entrusting it to a friend in December 2022 after the court ordered that profits from the Daejang-dong project be seized.
 
Kim, who was released in November 2022 after his detention warrant expired, was hospitalized after he tried to take his own life the following month. He was re-arrested upon his release from hospital in February on charges of concealing criminal proceeds and destroying evidence.
 
On top of the development corruption allegations, prosecutors have also charged the DP leader with accepting some 13.35 billion won in donations from companies, including Doosan E&C and Naver via the city's football club, Seongnam FC, in return for relaxing development regulations.
 
Although prosecutors requested an arrest warrant for Lee in February, the request was denied by the National Assembly, whose approval is required in the case of sitting lawmakers.
 
 
Lee has denied all of the charges against him and called the prosecution's investigation politically motivated.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
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