Kim Hak-ei, the former vice minister of the Ministry of Justice, has emerged as the subject of controversy. Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office (Director Jeong-seop Lee), who has been investigating the case, announced on the 3rd that it was handing over the matters related to Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, Lee Seong-yoon and Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won, allegedly implicated in illegal withdrawal, to the high-ranking public officials criminal investigation office (public prosecutors’ office). The prosecutor’s crime is due to the Airborne Law, which requires the airlift to investigate.
Kim Hak’s alleged involvement of illegal withdrawal
“At the discretion of the Minister of Public Affairs,
Regulations on the possibility of transferring to other investigative agencies”
The problem is that there is not yet an investigation manpower at the airlift, right after the launch. It is a common observation that it will take an additional month or two to start a full-fledged investigation by recruiting investigations such as the prosecutor of the air defense department. Some people in the legal profession raise concerns that the airlift, which was created to conduct a rigorous investigation of the prosecutors, could rather become the prosecutors’ refuge. This is why some claim that the case must be handed over to the prosecution.
However, the controversy is heating up as Chief Prosecutor Lee Seong-yoon issued a statement on this day and argued, “As the prosecution transferred the case to the airlift, the prosecution cannot be returned (re-transferred).” Prosecutor Lee proposed the provisions of the law stating,’If a prosecutor’s suspected of a high-ranking public official’s crime is found, it must be transferred to the airlift. This means that he has shown his will to be investigated by the airlift, not the prosecution.
However, objections arise in the legal world. In the Airborne Prosecution Act, it is stipulated that’the head of the public prosecutor’s office may transfer the case to the relevant investigating agency when it is deemed appropriate for other investigative agencies to investigate crimes of high-ranking officials.’ The incumbent vice-president said, “It does not mean that the public prosecutor should investigate the prosecutor, but it means that it can determine the subject of the investigation.” An attorney who was a former chief judge said, “There is no provision that you should not re-transfer after receiving a case related to a prosecutor. As Jae-cheop is also at the discretion of the Minister of Public Affairs, the claim of the District Prosecutor’s Office is unfounded.”
Reporter Jung Yujin [email protected]
