DP CHAIR INDICTED ON FIVE CHARGES

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Prosecutors have passed Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, to court in connection with allegations of receiving special favors related to the Daejangdong and Wi-Rye New City development projects, as well as issues surrounding 'Seongnam FC' sponsorship funds. This comes one year and six months after the investigation into the Daejang-dong scandal began. Although this signifies that the prosecution believes that Lee is at the center of the corruption allegations, the so-called '42.8 billion won agreement' which was mentioned as the core charge by the prosecution, has been dropped from the arraignment following the arrest warrant.

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When requesting an arrest warrant for Democratic Party chair Lee Jae-myung last month, the prosecutors said the Daejang-dong and Wirye land development projects were political corruption in collusion with businesses.

[Soundbite] Lee One-seok(Prosecutor General (Feb. 16)) : "It’s a grave case of regional corruption that allowed real estate developers and brokers to reap astronomical profits."

With the National Assembly voting down the arrest consent motion, Lee avoided arrest but a month later the prosecutors transferred him to court. The 169-page arraignment contains five charges, including breach of duty, conflict of interest, corruption, bribery and concealment of criminal proceeds. The DP chair is being accused of providing insider information to private developers in the Daejang-dong and Wirye projects to help them reap 800 billion won in illegal profits. And he inflicted 480 billion won in losses to the Seongnam Development Corporation. Lee is also being charged with receiving 13.3 billion won in donations for Seongnam FC from four corporations, including Naver, in return for administrative favors. The prosecutors have also transferred for trial Lee's close associate Jeong Jin-sang, who had been arrested and indicted earlier, as Lee's accomplice. Three people from Seongnam FC and Seongnam City Hall involved in accepting football club donations as well as three executives from Naver and Doosan Engineering & Construction have also been indicted on bribery charges. The prosecutors did not include the allegation that Lee was to receive 42.8 billion won in development profits from Daejang-dong contractors. A prosecution official said additional charges will be proven later through further investigation, which is needed to figure out discrepancies in evidence and testimonies. Now that the investigation into the key allegations is over, the prosecutors plan to focus on the "5-billion-won club" lobbying allegations.