Court to hear Lee Hwa-young's indictment on 'third-party bribery in remittance to North Korea'

The court said, “The indictment is somewhat lengthy… I am concerned that the judge will be left with a suspicion of guilt.”

(Suwon = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Sol = The court announced its intention to review the legality of the indictment against Lee Hwa-young, former vice-governor of Gyeonggi Province, who was additionally indicted on charges of third-party bribery in connection with the 'Ssangbangwool remittance to North Korea' incident.

Suwon District Court Criminal Division 11 (Chief Judge Song Byeong-hoon) held the 10th trial preparation date for the former Vice Governor Lee's bribery charges at 10 a.m. on the 3rd and announced, "We will examine whether the indictment violates the Japanese rule."

Indictment Japaneseism is a legal norm that in principle, only one indictment should be submitted, excluding documents or other items that may lead prosecutors to make a prejudgment when indicting.

The court stated this, saying that in addition to the objective elements of the crime, the indictment contains a lengthy list of various circumstances, facts, and conversation details of the people involved, which could lead judges to form a suspicion of guilt.

The court explained, “The prosecutor argues that there is no need for a hearing on the Japaneseism of the indictment because the change in the indictment has already been made and the evidence has already been examined,” and “However, the position of the Supreme Court is that the defendant can make related claims before the evidence is examined and that the flaws in the Japaneseism of the indictment are not cured even after the trial process has progressed.”

Former Deputy Governor Lee's side has argued that the prosecution tried to placate former Deputy Governor Lee through so-called 'statement seminars' during the investigation process, and that "if an exoneration decision is not made, the abuse of prosecution rights must be tried first."

The Public Prosecution Office agreed to determine whether there was an abuse of the power to prosecute and a violation of the Japanese principles of the indictment, and decided to submit a plan to prove the facts of the indictment by early next month.

The next trial preparation date will be held at 11 a.m. on January 26th next year.

Former Deputy Governor Lee is currently in prison after being sentenced to 7 years and 8 months in prison by the Supreme Court (7 years in prison for violating the Bribery and Foreign Exchange Transactions Act under the Special Price Act and 8 months in prison for violating the Political Funds Act) on charges of bribery by Ssangbangwool Group and conspiracy to send money to North Korea. Last June, through a public participation trial, he was sentenced to four months in prison in the first trial on charges of perjury related to the 'salmon drinking party' appeasement claim.

Meanwhile, former Lieutenant Governor Lee's lawyers submitted a request for retrial on the confirmed judgment on charges of violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act to the Suwon High Court, which was in charge of the appeal, this morning.