Were hundreds of millions of won exchanged in exchange for nomination? Speed ​​of prosecution investigation into ‘Myeong Tae-gyun suspicion’ [이슈추적]

Myung Tae-gyun. photo facebook capture

The prosecution is speeding up the investigation into suspicious money transactions involving Myung Tae-gyun (54). People around Mr. Myeong were summoned one after another and search and seizure were conducted several times. There are two types of money transactions that the prosecution has targeted so far. This is the money given by prospective candidates for local elections to a public opinion research company related to the Myung clan, and the money given to the Myung clan by former lawmaker Kim Young-seon (64) after winning the re-election and by-election.

Whether these politicians gave money to Mr. Myeong, who claimed to be close friends with President Yoon Seok-yeol and his wife, in return for seeking nomination or receiving nomination, is expected to be a key point in this investigation into the Political Fund Act. The gist of the so-called ‘Myeong Tae-gyun suspicion’ is that the money given by prospective candidates seeking nomination was used in an opinion poll for presidential candidate Yoon Seok-yeol during the last presidential election, and in return, the president’s wife, Kim Kun-hee, intervened in the process of former lawmaker Kim receiving nomination. all.

Did you give prospective candidates 200 million won in hopes of being nominated?

Money image. Photo Getty Image Bank

The Changwon District Prosecutors’ Office recently booked politicians A and B from the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions on charges of violating the Political Fund Act and is currently investigating them. Mr. A and others are accused of giving money to the Future Korea Research Institute (Research Institute), a public opinion polling company related to Myeong and former lawmaker Kim, at the end of 2021. The prosecution is confirming that the two gave a total of 240 million won, 120 million won each, to the research institute at the end of 2021.

The prosecution summoned Mr. A for questioning on the 27th and plans to summon Mr. B soon. Mr. Kim (60), the representative of the institute’s corporate registration office who knew the situation well at the time, was also summoned and interrogated as a suspect on the 27th and 28th.

The prosecution suspects that A and B gave money believing that they could receive nominations through Myeong and others. According to the Political Funds Act, no one may donate or receive political funds in connection with recommending a specific person as a candidate in an election. However, A and B did not actually receive nominations.

For this reason, Kang Hye-kyung (47) returned some of the money to A and B, and said that the money came from the election deposit that former lawmaker Kim received after the by-election in June 2022. Mr. Kang worked as the deputy director of the research institute and then served as the accounting manager during the election of former Rep. Kim.

“Used to pay for opinion polls… As a result, Kim Young-seon was nominated.”

Kang Hye-kyung, who raised suspicions of Ms. Kim Kun-hee’s involvement in nominations and Myung Tae-gyun’s illegal procurement of public opinion poll costs, attended the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office audit held at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the afternoon of the 21st, providing evidence that Myung Tae-gyun went to meet Mrs. Kim Kun-hee. He is holding up the airline ticket he bought. News 1

Mr. A and B are denying the charges, saying, ‘The money was lent as operating funds for the research institute.’ However, during the search and seizure of the home of Mr. Kim, the head of the research institute, the prosecution discovered two memos with the intention of ‘let’s settle the issue with the money lent as operating funds,’ raising questions about the credibility of the statement.

Kang claims that the money paid by Mr. A and others was used to cover the cost of public opinion polls (81 including published and unpublished) conducted through the research institute during the last presidential election (March 2022). There is also a recording of Mr. Myeong saying to Mr. Kang on February 28, ahead of the presidential election in March 2022, to the effect that “(poll poll) If you don’t have enough money, you can get it from A and B.”

In addition, Mr. Kang appeared as a witness at the National Assembly Legislative and Judiciary Committee’s audit of state affairs on the 21st, raising suspicions that former lawmaker Kim received nominations for the June 2022 by-election in return for Mr. Myeong’s public opinion poll for President Yoon during the March 2022 presidential election. raised. It was said that it was suspected that First Lady Kim Kun-hee was involved in this process.

On May 2, 2022, before the actual by-election nomination was announced, Mr. Myeong said to Mr. Kang, “Mrs. (Kim Geon-hee) called me today, and (told) me not to worry about Kim Young-sun because of my gratitude,” and “She said it was her gift. There is also a recording of a phone call in which he said, “You have to be careful what you say.”

Kim Young-sun, did you give him 90 million won in return for being nominated?

Jeon Hyun-hee, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is playing the transcript of Tae-gyun Myung while questioning Kang Hye-kyung, the accounting manager of former lawmaker Kim Young-sun, during the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office audit held at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the afternoon of the 21st. News 1

The prosecution is also looking into whether former lawmaker Kim gave money to Myeong in exchange for his nomination. From August of that year, two months after the 2022 by-election, to December of last year, we also captured circumstances in which former lawmaker Kim gave Mr. Myeong 90 million won on 25 occasions through Mr. Kang in connection with recommending him as a National Assembly candidate.

In relation to this, the prosecution is also securing several transcripts, such as former lawmaker Kim saying to Kang on May 23 last year, “I became a member of the National Assembly because I owed everything to (Mr. Myung).” However, Mr. Myeong denies the charges, saying, “I only received money lent during the election.”

Meanwhile, as Mrs. Kim is mentioned several times in Mr. Myeong’s transcript in connection with the nomination of former lawmaker Kim, attention is being paid to whether the prosecution’s investigation will also turn to Ms. Kim. In addition, with the revelation by a trustworthy former Seowon University professor (Director of Policy Support for Yoon’s campaign) that President Yoon’s presidential campaign used research institute opinion polls, attention is focused on whether this will lead to an investigation into President Yoon.

Since the Yoon camp at the time never paid the research fee to the Future Korea Institute, there is a possibility that it may have violated the Political Fund Act. The opposition party is making claims such as, “The prosecution and the Corruption Investigation Office must quickly investigate the violations of the political fund law and bribery charges by the presidential campaign of Yoon Seok-yeol” (Cho Kuk Innovation Party lawmaker Park Eun-jung).

Changwon = Reporter Ahn Dae-hun an.daehun@joongang.co.kr