ANOTHER DEVELOPMENT PROBE TARGETS DP CHAIR

[Anchor Lead]

Prosecutors, who have been investigating corruption allegations surrounding a Baekhyeon-dong development project in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do Province, raided more than 40 locations including Seongnam City Hall and private land developers. Following Daejang-dong and Wirye New Town, this is another investigation surrounding Democratic Party chairman Lee Jae-myung. Lee said he will appear for questioning again on the 10th.

[Pkg]

Prosecutors have recently received a case from police into corruption allegations surrounding a Baekhyeon-dong development project in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do Province. Prosecutors raided more than 40 locations including Seongnam City Hall and private land developers. According to the key allegation, in 2015 a land developer recruited former Korea Housing Technology chief Kim In-seop, a close associate of then-Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung, and obtained a change-of-use permit from Seongnam City by bypassing four stages in the approval process. Kim's residence and workplace are also subject to prosecutors' raids. This investigation apparently targets Lee, who was suspected to be the final decision-maker in the project at the time. Lee has declined to comment.

[Soundbite] Lee Jae-myung(Chair, Democratic Party) : "(What do you think about the prosecutors raiding Seongnam City Hall and Seongnam Development Corp. in relation to the Baekhyeon-dong?) ..."

Lee has already been interrogated once regarding allegations into the Daejang-dong and Wirye projects. He says he will appear for questioning again at 11 a.m. Friday. He previously said he would undergo questioning this weekend. The Democratic Party says Lee planned to appear for questioning on a weekend because he is busy with his duties as party chief on weekdays, but prosecutors insisted he should be summoned on a weekday. The party expressed regret that prosecutors keep ignoring Lee's duties related to improving people's livelihoods. Prosecutors plan to grill Lee on his testimonies submitted earlier and the allegations surrounding his close associates. He says he is determined to exercise his right to defense based on his written testimonies submitted last time.