DP chief's former aide gets five years for bribery linked to Daejang-dong scandal

Politics

Published: 30 Nov. 2023, 18:27

DP chief's former aide gets five years for bribery linked to Daejang-dong scandal

Kim Yong, a former deputy head of the Democratic Party-affiliated think tank Institute for Democracy, left, attends a court ruling on Thursday at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul. [YONHAP]

A court on Thursday sentenced Kim Yong, a close aide to Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung, to five years in prison on charges of bribery and illegal political fundraising linked to the controversial Daejang-dong development project.

Kim, the former deputy head of the DP-affiliated think tank Institute for Democracy, was indicted last November on charges of taking 847 million won ($654,000) in illegal political funds from lawyer Nam Wook, a private investor and major stakeholder in the Daejang-dong development scheme led by then-Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung.

Kim was accused of receiving the funds from Nam on four occasions from April to August 2021 after colluding with lawyer Jeong Min-yong, the former head of the Seongnam Development Corporation (SDC)’s strategic project office, and Yoo Dong-gyu, the company’s former planning director.

The funds are believed to have been used to finance Lee’s failed presidential election.

Kim was also indicted on a charge of accepting 190 million won in bribes from Yoo between 2013 and 2014, linked to the land development project and establishing the SDC.

On Thursday, the Seoul Central District Court found Kim guilty of receiving 600 million won as political funds and 70 million won in bribes.

The court ruled that Kim received 600 million won of the 847 million won in illegal political funds, with the rest given to Yoo from Nam.

Kim was immediately arrested after the sentencing, with the court citing concerns that Lee's former aide could destroy evidence based on his prior forgery and perjury. He was also sentenced to a fine of 70 million won and a forfeiture of 670 million won.

Kim’s arrest came about seven months after he was granted bail on May 4.

On the same day, the court sentenced Nam to eight months in prison and acquitted Yoo and Jeong.

The Daejang-dong land development scandal centers on allegations that an obscure and small private asset management company, Hwacheon Daeyu, and its affiliates reaped exponential profits from the 2015 project. DP leader Lee was the mayor of Seongnam when the project began.

Lee is also standing trial on bribery and corruption tied to the project and others, including the sponsorship of Seongnam FC, which is owned by the city.

Hwacheon Daeyu drew attention after it was able to join the 1.5 trillion-won land development launched by the Seongnam city government through a joint public-private consortium led by KEB-Hana Bank, despite having only 50 million won in capital and no prior record of participating in real estate developments.

The company invested only 350 million won in the project and raked in 400 billion won in profit from the development. At the same time, the SDC, owned by the city government, earned only 183 billion won from its 25-billion-won investment in the project.

Thursday’s sentence marks the court’s first ruling against cases linked to the scandal-plagued project.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]