PROSECUTORS SUMMON LEE JAE-MYUNG’S WIFE

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Prosecutors have subpoenaed the wife of DP Chairman Lee Jae-myung to interrogate her about the alleged use of a government credit card. The summoning comes two weeks after she was investigated by police. The prosecutors investigating the scandal will decide whether to indict Lee's wife as early as Thursday.

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Kim Hye-kyung faces accusations of malfeasance and violation of the Public Officials Election Act for using the Gyeonggi-do provincial government credit card. Prosecutors subpoenaed Kim on Wed. just two days before her statute of limitations on the Public Officials Election Law expired. Two weeks ago she was summoned by police over the same allegations.

[Soundbite] Kim Hye-kyung(Wife of DP Rep. Lee Jae-myung (Aug. 23)) : "(Did you tell your secretary to use the government credit card?) … (Are you denying the charges?) …"

Kim is charged with letting her secretary and a former Gyeonggi-do provincial government official misuse a government credit card. Police believe the card was used to pay more than two million won for Kim's meals and other private expenditures. The case has been recently transferred to prosecutors. Investigators charged Kim with violation of the Public Officials Election Act for paying with the government credit card for a lunch gathering of Kim and the spouses of DP lawmakers during the presidential election primaries. Kim claims to have never used the credit card, nor saw it personally, and was unaware it was used to pay for something. She added she paid only for her own meal at the lunch gathering and doesn't know who paid 78,000 won for the meals of the other three people. Kim reiterated her stance during the prosecutorial interrogation that lasted two and a half hours. Prosecutors raided the offices of the Gyeonggi-do provincial government to find evidence of collusion between DP chair Lee Jae-myung and Ssangbangwool Group. The latter allegedly paid 800 million won for an inter-Korean event hosted by the province when Lee was serving as its governor. Two days ago the prosecutors raided the provincial government in relation to the accusation that Lee provided false information on the Daejang-dong land development scandal. The decision on whether to indict Lee and his wife is to be reached as early as Thursday.