Lee Jeong-geun, former vice-secretary general of the Democratic Party of Korea, is making his statement by appearing for a summons and investigation as a suspect at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul on September 23 last year./News 1
Lee Jeong-geun, former vice president of the Democratic Party of Korea, appeared as a witness in the trial of the ‘Democratic Party National Convention money envelope distribution incident’ held on the 23rd and said that he voluntarily submitted the so-called ‘Lee Jeong-geun transcript’ to the prosecution. Lee Jeong-geun’s transcript is key evidence that contains the circumstances in which former representative Song Young-gil’s associates, who ran as the party’s representative candidate at the 2021 Democratic National Convention, distributed envelopes of money to opposition party lawmakers and regional headquarters heads.
So far, former CEO Song’s side has argued that the prosecution had no evidence, claiming that the transcripts were collected illegally without the consent of Mr. Lee and others. Regarding this, Mr. Lee, the owner of the transcript, stated in court that “it was submitted arbitrarily.”
At the ‘money envelope’ trial of Rep. Yoon Kwan-seok (independent), Kang Rae-gu (former standing auditor of the Korea Water Resources Corporation), and Park Yong-soo (former former aide to Song), Lee said, “I arbitrarily submitted (mobile phones, etc. to the prosecution).” “When submitting the data, we did not say that it was limited to a certain case,” he said. Previously, it was reported that the prosecution discovered and obtained the ‘Lee Jeong-geun transcript’ on his smartphone while investigating Mr. Lee for a bribery case that was separate from the money envelope. When the prosecution asked, “Did you agree to using (the transcript) as evidence in another case?” Lee answered, “Yes.”
Mr. Lee then testified that there was no illegality in the process of submitting the transcripts. When asked by the prosecution, “Did you claim that the evidence was illegal in using the recorded files and messages contained in (Lee’s) cell phone as evidence in the (money envelope) case involving Kang Rae-gu, Park Yong-soo, Yoon Kwan-seok, etc.,” Lee responded, “Yes, that’s right.” “No,” he answered.
Mr. Lee’s statement in court runs counter to former CEO Song’s claim that the prosecution conducted the investigation by illegally obtaining evidence. In a CBS radio interview last June, former CEO Song said, “If the prosecution obtains (Lee Jeong-geun’s) transcript, the recording should be extracted like this with the consent of the defense attorney and the defendant and under observation, but isn’t that a process?” and “I said it was illegally collected evidence.” “I see it,” he said. Last May, former CEO Song claimed on his Facebook page, “The recording files of Lee Jeong-geun, Kang Rae-gu, etc. were edited and stitched together and were collected without going through legal procedures, so they have no evidence.”
Song Young-gil, former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is holding a press conference in front of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office in Seocho-dong on the 11th denouncing the prosecution’s ‘investigation into the Democratic Party National Convention money envelope.’ / News 1
Mr. Lee also claimed that even though he never asked for money first, Rep. Lee Seong-man and Kang Rae-gu gave false interviews to the media as if they were orchestrating it. At the trial on this day, the prosecution presented a transcript of a phone call dated March 5, 2021, in which Mr. Kang said to Mr. Lee, “When (Kim) Young-kwon comes on Monday, tell him, ‘I don’t have money to pay for food. Please provide me with cash.’ “It contains instructions saying, “If you don’t have money for food, give me a card and threaten me like that.” Mr. Lee responded, “I will do that.”
Regarding this transcript, Mr. Lee was given the opportunity to speak, saying, “I will tell you one thing.” Mr. Lee said, “On the day when the prosecution search and seizure was conducted for the Lee (money envelope) case, three people, Kang Rae-gu, Lee Seong-man, and Cho Taek-sang (former Incheon City Deputy Mayor for Political Affairs), said in a media interview, ‘Lee Jeong-geun whined that he had no money for food and asked for money.’ He said, “I thought we were comrades at one time, but these three people deliberately attacked me with personal attacks.”
After the prosecution searched and seized nine people, including Reps. Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Seong-man and former Vice Mayor Cho Taek-sang, for the money envelope incident in April, Rep. Lee and former Vice Mayor Cho gave an explanation to the media to the effect that “Mr. Lee requested money.” . Mr. Lee refuted this, saying, “Former Vice Mayor Cho called me and said, ‘If you need money for food, I will send it to you,’ and ‘I will deliver it through Rep. Lee,’ so I said I knew.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Lee also said that on this day, he reported to former representative Song that lawmakers Lee Seong-man and Seo Sang-seok had given 1 million to 2 million won worth of valuables to Song Young-gil’s camp. Mr. Lee said, “I of course report important details about what happened in the camp to the candidate,” and added, “I also reported the (money provision) of Representatives Lee and Seo without exception.”
2023-10-23 05:44:07
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