[News Today] MORE ‘KRW 5BN CLUB’ INDICTMENTS

[LEAD]
The prosecution has charged former Supreme Court Justice Kwon Soon-il and Money Today Chairman Hong Sun-keun regarding the '5 billion club' scandal. This scandal involves allegations of influential figures such as Lee Jae-Myung, former leader of opposition party, receiving large sums for favors linked to a major real estate development project. Nearly three years after the claims first emerged, four of the six accused have now been indicted.

[REPORT]
Shortly after retirement, former Supreme Court Justice Kwon Soon-il served as an adviser for Hwacheon Daeyu, an asset management company whose largest shareholder was Kim Man-bae.

He received a pay of 150 million won or some 109-thousand dollars in less than a year.

The prosecution has now indicted him without detention, believing he was not just an adviser but practically served as a lawyer.

They suspect Kwon prepared legal documents such as relating to civil lawsuits involving the Daejangdong property development scandal without officially registering himself as a lawyer.

Also referred to trial is Hong Sun-keun, chairman of the media firm Money Today, who borrowed 5 billion won (USD 3.6 million) from Kim back in 2019.

Hong paid back the sum in full but did not pay an interest of over 14 million won, a little over 10,000 USD, which the prosecution sees as a bribe he took from Kim.

With the latest indictments, of the six people accused of receiving five billion won from Hwacheon Daeyu when the allegation first surfaced in September 2021, four have been handed to trial including former lawmaker Kwak Sang-do and former special counsel Park Young-soo.

Separately, prosecutors plan to continue investigation into other allegations involving the former Supreme Court Justice that he struck deals and manipulated court trials.

Kwon is accused of playing a pivotal role in quashing an election violation charge of former opposition leader Lee Jae-myung and remanding that case, in return for a promise to receive a large sum of money from Kim Man-bae.

Prosecutors have also indicted without detention a former deputy editor at local newspaper Hankyoreh and a former executive at JoongAng Ilbo daily on charges of receiving several hundred million wons from Kim for the publication of certain news articles.