Prosecutors under the Moon government ignored the fake news even after learning about it.
Circumstances are being revealed that ‘Prosecution Moon Jae-in’, who investigated the Daejang-dong incident during the last presidential election, neglected the suspicion of ‘covering up the investigation of Yoon Seok-yeol’ at the end of 2021, but neglected it, leading to fake news reports by some media. The special investigation team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, which is investigating the ‘public opinion manipulation case involving intervention in the presidential election,’ is also conducting an investigation in this area.
The fake news about ‘covering up the investigation of Yoon Seok-yeol’ is that ‘President Yoon Seok-yeol covered up the investigation by giving coffee to Daejang-dong loan broker Jo Woo-hyeong (actual owner of Cheonhwa-dong No. 6) while investigating the Busan Savings Bank case in 2011.’
This fake news was reported twice by JTBC on February 21 and 28, 2022, and Newstapa also published an edited version of the interview recording of Shin Shin-rim, former chairman of the media union, with Kim Man-bae (major shareholder of Hwacheon Dayu) on March 6, 2022, three days before the presidential election. was reported with similar content.
However, at the time, the Daejang-dong investigation team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office was said to have already realized that the suspicion of ‘clearing up the investigation of Yoon Seok-yeol’ was not true through investigations of Nam Wook (owner of Cheonhwa-dong Inn No. 4) and Jo Woo-hyung in November and December 2021, before those reports were published. .
When the prosecution was investigating the two people, it was at a time when the Democratic Party was in full swing with its offensive that ‘Yoon Seok-yeol is the body of Daejang-dong’. One legal expert said, “If the prosecution had responded properly to the misinformation at that time, JTBC or Newstapa would not have been able to report such things,” and “The prosecution remained silent even after the fake news came out.”
At the time, the command line for the Daejeon-dong investigation included Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo, known for his pro-Moon Jae-in regime’s tendencies, Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office Chief Lee Jeong-soo, and 4th Deputy Chief Prosecutor Kim Tae-hoon.
On October 16, 2021, a month after Kim Man-bae’s interview with Shin Shin-rim, then-Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung posted on Facebook, “Candidate Seok-yeol Yoon (People Power Party presidential election) did not investigate the Daejang-dong loan case as the chief prosecutor of the Busan Savings Bank investigation. “What is the reason?” he posted, “The person who will be arrested is not Jae-Myung Lee, but Candidate Yoon.”
Two days later, on October 18, then Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo announced during the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s audit of government affairs, “I ordered (the Daejang-dong investigation team) to investigate suspicions of poor investigation into the Busan Savings Bank case in 2011.” This was an answer to a question from Democratic Party lawmaker Song Ki-heon.
As President Kim Oh-soo said at the time, an investigation was later conducted into the ‘suspicion of covering up the Yoon Seok-yeol investigation’.
In summary, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office investigated Namwook on November 19, 2021. At the time, Mr. Nam said, “When Jo Woo-hyung first appeared at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in February 2011, he was interrogated for more than 10 hours. That night, I met Jo Woo-hyung in the parking lot of the Supreme Court (near the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office), and I remember his face turning white and shaking like an aspen tree. “It flies,” he stated.
Mr. Nam also said, “Kim Man-bae told Jo Woo-hyung (who was about to conduct the second investigation), ‘If you go up today, you can have a cup of coffee and come back. “You just have to cooperate with all the questions asked,” he said. “In fact, Jo Woo-hyung, who came out after being investigated, said, ‘The chief prosecutor made me coffee and, unlike the first investigation, he treated me very well.’” Regarding the ‘chief prosecutor’, Mr. Nam said, “I think I heard from Kim Man-bae (in 2011) that that person was Yoon Seok-yeol, head of the Central Investigation Department 2.”
On the other hand, the person involved, Woohyung Jo, made the opposite statement five days later, on November 24, 2021. In response to the prosecutor’s question, “Have you ever met or been investigated by Chief of Heavy Water Division Yoon Seok-yeol at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office?”, Mr. Cho responded, “No.” He replied, “I have never met Prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol.”
At the time, Mr. Cho said, “I attended the Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office about three times in April and May 2011 and was interrogated (as a reference).” He added, “I delivered money to Park (lobbyist) at the request of Vice Chairman Kim of Busan Savings Bank, and there was no information related to that. He stated, “I was investigated.”
Mr. Cho said, “When I appeared for the first time, I filled out a consent form to record my cell phone use, and when Prosecutor Park asked questions such as ‘Do you intend to cooperate with the investigation?’, I answered that I would consult with a lawyer and wrote a brief statement.” I appeared at the prosecution twice to collect and submit receipts for purchasing money bags. “At the third appearance, Prosecutor Park investigated the circumstances of the money delivery,” he said.
Contrary to the Democratic Party’s claims, the Daejeon-dong first-time business owner was not investigated for a loan from Busan Savings Bank. It is said that the charge for which Mr. Cho was punished in 2015 for ‘receiving over 1 billion won in loan commissions’ was a charge revealed in an investigation by the Deposit Insurance Corporation in 2014.
The Busan Savings Bank incident was a large-scale financial corruption case that resulted in a loss of public funds worth 5 trillion won. In 2011, the prosecutors’ investigation led to the arrest of then-President Lee Myung-bak’s older brother, lawmaker Lee Sang-deuk, the senior secretary for public relations at the Blue House, and the secretary for political affairs. 14 high-ranking executives of Busan Savings Bank, including the chairman, vice-chairman and auditor, were also prosecuted. A total of 50 people were arrested and indicted, and 40 were indicted without detention. At the time, about 200 prosecutors and investigators were involved in the investigation. President Yoon Seok-yeol, who was the chief prosecutor and head of the Central Investigation Division 2 of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, led the investigation. One legal expert said, “The head of Central Investigation Division 2 was not structured at all to be able to clear up the case even a little at the request of someone.”
As the statements of Mr. Nam and Mr. Cho were conflicting, a cross-examination was held in December 2021. Here, Mr. Nam recanted his statement about the ‘chief prosecutor.’ Mr. Nam is said to have said, “I was mistaken because I did not hear it directly from Mr. Cho.”
At that time, the media was reporting on the suspicion of ‘covering up안전놀이터 the investigation of Yoon Seok-yeol’, which was an issue raised by the Democratic Party. Related articles followed, but the prosecution was virtually silent. JTBC ‘s ‘Yoon Seok-yeol Coffee’ report and Newstapa’s ‘Kim Man-bae Interview’ report came out in this situation.
JTBC reported on February 21 and 28, 2022, “When President Yoon was a prosecutor, he gave Jo Woo-hyeong coffee and did not conduct an investigation related to Daejang-dong.” Some media outlets said, ‘The prosecution also tracked Cho’s bank account,’ but this also turned out to be untrue. JTBC also apologized
on the 6th for reporting only Nam’s statement while the reporter who wrote the article had records of statements made by Namwook and Cho in November 2021, respectively. The reporter said to this newspaper, “We judged the statement of Mr. Nam, a third party, to be more credible than that of Mr. Cho, the suspect.” This reporter moved to Newstapa in October last year. On February 21 last year, when the first report was made, Democratic presidential candidate Lee Jae -myeong shared the JTBC article on Facebook and said, “Juan Muchi’s enemy is the enemy.” Democratic Party lawmaker Ahn Min-seok said on YTN on February 22,
He appeared on the radio and said, “The Daejang-dong incident is Prosecutor Yoon Seok-yeol’s Coffee Gate.” Rep. Ahn said, “The starting point (of the Daejang-dong preferential treatment) started with the coffee that Prosecutor Seok-yeol Yoon gave us,” and added, “I think we need to start a new frame in this area.” When it was recently revealed that Kim Man-bae gave Shin Shin-rim 165 million won for ‘three books’, Rep. Ahn told YTN , “(Mr. Kim) is a person who gives 5 billion won, but he can only give about 100 million won. “I think he has the kind of personality that can be given in exchange for books,” he said.
Legal experts said, “There is a need to find out what role ‘Prosecution Moon Jae-in’ played in the background of the spread of fake news about the ‘clearance of Yoon Seok-yeol’s investigation’ at the time.” A prosecution official said, “We plan to sequentially investigate the suspicions raised.”