Rejection of request to leave 2 people moving out… It’s not easy to finish such as embezzlement
material photo” alt=”A view of the Ministry of Justice building. A view of the Ministry of Justice building. <한겨레> Material photo
It was confirmed that the Ministry of Justice disapproved the request for the dispatch of prosecutors from the investigative team in charge of the suspicion of former Justice Minister Cho Kook’s family. As the number of personnel in the investigation team decreases, the ongoing investigation, such as the alleged embezzlement of the Ik-seong management, is not expected to be easy. To summarize the coverage on the 7th, the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office Special Tribunal Team 1 (Director Seonghan Dan) requested the dispatch of two prosecutors who were transferred to the Ministry of Justice through the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office at the end of January after a review prosecutor was appointed. Two prosecutors who were sent to the provinces had been in charge of maintaining the prosecution since the investigation, so the investigation team requested that at least one be left. However, the Ministry of Justice did not approve it. Just as the prosecutor Kang Baek-shin, who was in charge of the investigation, was on a business trip to Seoul at every trial after being appointed to the Tongyeong branch in early last year. The investigation remaining in the investigation team is related to the Iksung executives, a private equity fund manager that was actually operated by Cho’s fifth nephew, Cho Bum-dong. Chairman Ik-seong and vice-chairman were also accused of embezzlement and misrepresentation of Mr. Cho at the trial. It is reported that the investigation team was conducting an investigation by reviewing the confiscated material secured by the seizure and search of the headquarters of Ikseong and the homes of related persons in 2019. In addition, several witnesses suspected perjury during the trial of former Minister Cho’s wife, Jeong Gyeong-sim, and the opposition party claimed the prosecution of Cho Min, the daughter of former Minister Cho, but the investigation team believes that a separate investigation will be difficult. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office recently supported one reviewer who participated in the investigation phase in the form of an internal dispatch. However, the prosecutor has never participated in the trial, so it is expected that the prosecution will be tight. Regarding the disapproval of the dispatch of the prosecutor, the Ministry of Justice said, “We cannot confirm personnel related matters such as dispatch.” By Bae Bae-hyun, staff reporter [email protected]