INVESTIGATION ON LEE YONG-GU CONTINUES

[Anchor Lead]

Prosecutors are making rapid progress in their investigation into Vice Justice Minister Lee Yong-gu’s alleged assault on a taxi driver. They raided the Seocho Police Station in relation with allegations that a police officer had turned a blind eye to a dashboard camera footage suggesting the vice minister’s offense.

[Pkg]

Carrying boxes of seized materials, prosecutorial investigators leave the police station.

[Soundbite] "(Have you secured the dashboard camera footage?) (Where did you raid today?)"

They raided the police station’s criminal affairs department that investigated Vice Justice Minister Lee Yong-gu’s alleged assault on a taxi driver. During the seven-hour raid, prosecutors reportedly seized documents about the case and the mobile phone of a police officer who was in charge of the probe into the vice minister’s case. Lee is accused of hurling insults and grabbing a taxi driver by the collar in an intoxicated state, when the driver woke him up after arriving at his home. This happened early November last year, about a month before he was appointed vice justice minister. At the time, police closed the case after applying charges of assault that are not subject to punishment. However, criticism mounted that Lee must have faced heavier, punishable charges, as he assaulted a driver in motion. In response, police denied the existence of a video footage that would prove the accusations against Lee. However, it was later found that the taxi driver had initially presented the dashboard camera footage to the police officer who then ignored it. As soon as they complete the analysis of the seized materials, the prosecution will summon and question the police investigator regarding why he did not consider the video when deciding on Lee’s charges. Prosecutors are also focusing on investigating Lee’s assault allegations. After obtaining the taxi’s GPS information on that night from Seoul city and comparing it with the dashboard camera footage, they are considering summoning the vice minister. Police are also conducting their own investigation. They questioned the dashboard camera company’s employee about his phone call with the police investigator in question.