The South Korean judiciary on Friday charged the right-hand man of the leader of the opposition Democratic Party, Lee Jae Myung, with corruption for allegedly receiving bribes in the context of a real estate scandal.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office has charged Jeong Jin Sang, Lee’s deputy chief of staff, after allegedly receiving around 240 million won (about 174,000 euros) from real estate developers in exchange for business favors, according to Yonhap news agency.
Jeong, who has been remanded in custody, is also accused of destroying evidence after he told former Seongnam Urban Development acting chairman Yoo Dong Gyu, involved in the corruption case, to throw his cell phone out the window when prosecutors searched his home in September last year.
Lee’s deputy chief of staff was arrested last Nov. 19. Jeong accused the prosecution of trumping up the charges and also accused state lawyers of behaving in a manner «like when the military was in power» during the 1960s.
The South Korean justice is investigating whether the money was used to finance Lee’s presidential campaign in the elections of the opposition formation in November, in which he competed against his rival, Yoon Seok Youl, the other candidate for the South Korean presidency for the Democratic Party.
Lee, who was mayor of Seongnam in southern Seoul and governor of Gyeonggi, South Korea’s most populous province, has previously denied that he committed any wrongdoing, while several people close to him are facing a police investigation over the corruption case.
