On March 4, Yoon Seok-yeol, then the prosecutor general. News 1
On the 7th, former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol said, “It is a crime of ruin to steal public information and speculate on real estate.” “You have to follow the flow of money and find out the reality.” In a phone call with the JoongAng Ilbo that day, he explained, “I had the experience of investigating speculation in the Unjeong district of Paju in person at the time of the 2nd new town in 2005 at the time of the 2nd new town in Goyang.”
Seok-Yeol Yoon “Investigation of Unjeong District in Paju in 2005 in the second new city”
Regarding the government’s joint investigation method led by the Prime Minister’s Office to deal with LH employees’ allegations of speculation in the 3rd new city, Mr. Yun said, “If the investigation takes time, there is a great concern that the evidence will be destroyed.” “There is a need to conduct an immediate and extensive investigation. I do” he emphasized. In fact, it emphasized the need for a direct investigation by the prosecution.
He also advised that people (LH staff, etc.) should not be called and investigated on a certified copy of the land register, but that they should track the flow of money in relation to land with high investment value to identify the beneficial owner.
Yun introduced to the JoongAng Ilbo, “When the construction of the second new city in 2005, as a prosecutor at the Uijeongbu District Prosecutor’s Office at the time, I had the experience of directly investigating allegations of speculation in Paju and Unjeong districts.” At the time, the Goyang branch detected eight construction companies that forged sales contracts as if they had purchased land before the designation date of the Unjeong District at the time, and arrested five people, including the company’s representatives.
At the time, the joint prosecution investigation headquarters, including the Goyang branch, arrested 27 public officials on charges of providing inside information to speculators or issuing false farmland acquisition qualification certificates, and arrested 7 of them. In 1990, when the first new city was built, the prosecution conducted a major investigation and arrested 131 public officials.
“You should not be conscious of the April 7 by-election and make a mistake in investigating and investigating.”
Yun stressed, “You should not be conscious of the next April by-election, and you should not be swayed with the investigation,” he said. “Eighty and eighty responsible politicians should call for a quick and large-scale investigation.”
Yoon’s remarks from LH came from a situation where President Moon Jae-in and Justice Minister Park Beom-gye, led by the Prime Minister’s Office, drew a line to prevent the prosecution from directly investigating the police after a preliminary investigation. This statement is also interpreted as a criticism of the situation in which the prosecution’s right to investigate was deprived of the LH suspicion that arose out of public anger.
On this day, the government repeatedly announced its policy to conduct a joint investigation first and then switch to an investigation after requesting an investigation. On the 7th, Deputy Prime Minister of Economy and Ministry of Strategy and Finance Hong Nam-ki announced a public appeal against allegations of speculation by LH employees and said, “If the alleged speculation is confirmed as a result of the ongoing government joint investigation, we will take measures with zero tolerance such as request for investigation and discipline.” .
In the future, the investigation team will also be led by the police. The National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency has established a special investigation team and is conducting preliminary work for a full-scale investigation.
The prosecution, who has the’know-how’ of large-scale real estate speculation investigations in the first and second new town investigations, was excluded from this LH investigation. Following the adjustment of the prosecutor’s right to investigate, the prosecution has reduced to six major crimes, including corruption, economy, public officials, elections, defense projects, and major catastrophes.In particular, in the case of public institutions such as this suspicion, only executives or higher are the prosecution. This is because it is subject to investigation.
Even if public officials and executives of level 4 or higher are detected in the future, there is no atmosphere that the prosecution will be late in the situation where the recent passport is pushing for a strong’complete deprivation of the prosecution’s right to investigate (complete inspection)’.
President Moon Jae-in on March 2. yunhap news
Beomgye Park instructs “Prosecutors only prosecute and hold prosecution”
Justice Minister Park Beom-gye also gave an order to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office on the 5th to exclude direct investigation by the prosecution. “After designating a prosecutor in charge of real estate speculation at each district prosecutor’s office, the police promptly reviewed the request for a warrant, and if the case was sent, it was specifically instructed to deal with it strictly.” This means that the prosecution should only support police investigations such as seizure and search or application for arrest warrants, but after sending the case, it means to focus on maintaining the prosecution and prosecution.
However, as the police lead the investigation, which is relatively insufficient compared to the prosecution in complicated tracking of funds and the experience of verifying the beneficial owners, concerns about insolvency investigations are emerging among experts.
Police with less experience in’large-scale investigation’, should LH investigation be done properly?
Seung Jae-hyun, a research fellow at the Korea Criminal Policy Research Institute, compared the subject of the investigation as a wild boar in the mountains and worried, “The police have a lot of experience in catching’specific’ wild boars, but they do not have much experience in catching all wild boars in the mountains.” He added, “There is a growing concern because President Moon Jae-in is asking to catch wild boars from other mountains (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Blue House, etc.).” On one side, criticism is also emerging as a’self-investigation’ over the fact that the joint investigation team contains the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which is a potential investigation target.
These issues are expected to be addressed in the report on the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Public Administration and Security to the Blue House on the 8th. In the work report, it is expected that the reform of the power agency will be checked as well. In-hoe Kim, a professor of law at Inha University, who is considered the theoretician of the current government prosecution reform, criticizes that “the police reform is hardly carried out compared to the prosecution reform.” It is also of interest whether President Moon Jae-in will make a specific comment on the controversy over complete inspection through the establishment of the Severe Crime Investigation Office.
Reporter Minjoong Kim [email protected]
