"After Kim Man-bae's arrest, Seongnam City Hall's repression" plan was broken by the prosecution...I

Prosecutors investigating allegations of preferential development in Daejang-dong seized and searched Seongnam City Hall on the 15th to secure licensing data. It has been 22 days since the investigation began in earnest on the 23rd of last month. The prosecution's plan to expand the investigation into allegations of breach of trust and lobbying after arresting Kim Man-bae, a major shareholder of Hwacheon University, became inevitable as the court rejected Kim's arrest warrant the previous day.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office's investigation team (team leader Kim Tae-hoon) sent two prosecutors and 20 investigators to Seongnam City Hall earlier in the day to seize and search the Culture and Urban Business Group, the Education and Sports Bureau, the Urban Housing Bureau, and the Information and Communication Division. The Cultural City Project Group is in charge of the overall project, from the establishment of a Daejang-dong development project plan to approval for change. The Urban Housing Bureau is a department in charge of business licensing and urban planning. The prosecution's search and seizure of the Education, Culture and Sports Bureau, a department in charge of cultural properties, is aimed at looking into allegations of bribery related to 5 billion won in severance pay paid by Hwacheon Daeyu to Kwak Sang-do's son. Kwak's son insisted on "the achievement of removing the reason for the delay in construction due to the discovery of cultural properties in Daejang-dong in 2017" as the basis for calculating severance pay. At that time, Kwak belonged to the National Assembly's Education, Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee in charge of the Cultural Heritage Administration. It is reported that the prosecution conducted an investigation into public officials in charge of these departments at the site of seizure and search.

The prosecution also seized and searched the house of an acquaintance of former head coach Yoo to secure an old mobile phone used by former head coach Yoo. This is separate from the mobile phone secured by the police on the 7th after Yoo threw it out of the window ahead of the prosecution's seizure and search on the 29th of last month. As Yoo became known as a mobile phone used in 2014-15 when the Daejang-dong development project was underway, attention is being paid to whether the prosecution will be able to find evidence to prove allegations of breach of trust and lobbying surrounding the case.

Considering the procedure for issuing a seizure and search warrant, the prosecution may have already received the seizure and search warrant of Seongnam City Hall from the court before Kim's arrest warrant was dismissed on the night of the 14th. It is in this context that Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office Chief Lee Jung-soo said in a parliamentary audit on the 14th that he was "in the process" when lawmakers pointed out that the seizure and search of Seongnam City Hall were being delayed. The prosecution's plan to use Kim's arrest as leverage for investigation has become suspicious of its effectiveness as well as seizure and search, as the court rejected Kim's arrest warrant, saying, "It is hard to say that the need for arrest has been sufficiently clarified."

The prosecution plans to analyze the data obtained by Seongnam-si that day and call in public officials involved in the Daejang-dong development project one after another to investigate. It is also expected to secure meaningful evidence through forensics of former headquarters Yoo's mobile phone. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office issued a statement that day and said, "The dedicated investigation team will closely review the reasons for dismissing the arrest warrant for Kim Man-bae and decide whether to request again in the future. "We will continue to find out the actual truth about this case fairly and strictly," he said.