YOO FOUND TO HAVE RECEIVED BRIBES

[Anchor Lead]

Prosecutors have arrested a key figure in a scandal surrounding a lucrative development project, which was carried out in Daejang-dong, Seongnam City when the ruling party’s presidential frontrunner Lee Jae-myung served as mayor. Yoo Dong-kyu, former acting chief of Seongnam Development Corporation, is kwown to have been charged with receiving 800 million won in bribes. He is currently denying all accusations against him.

[Pkg]

Yoo Dong-kyu, former acting chief of Seongnam Development Corporation, is accused of bribery and breach of trust. Prosecutors believe that taking advantage of his central role in Seongnam’s development projects, Yoo received bribes from contractors in return for business favors. He is also accused of leaving out a clause on retrieving excess earnings when designing a development project. This is said to have eventually caused financial damage to the city while helping Hwacheondaeyu, a private asset management firm, collect huge profits. Prosecutors sought an arrest warrant for Yoo on charges of receiving a total of 800 million won in bribes. This includes 500 million won from Kim Man-bae, a major shareholder of Hwacheondaeyu, as well as 300 million from a developer participating in a new town project in Wirye, a satellite city bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi-do Province. It appears that prosecutors are also looking into other development projects run by Seongnam City. It has been found that lawyer Nam Wook deeply engaged in the Wirye new town project through his wife as the real owner of Cheonhwadongin No. 4, an affiliate of Hwacheondaeyu. Yoo has denied all accusations against him, insisting he never received bribes from Kim Man-bae and the profit distribution scheme he came up with was an inevitable choice. Prosecutors are now having difficulty obtaining Yoo’s mobile phone, which can offer substantial evidence and clues to the allegations. According to prosecutors, Yoo said, following his arrest, that he threw his mobile phone out of a window a day before investigators raided his house. But, he changed his story later, claiming he entrusted the phone to a phone seller. Prosecutors say Yoo is now refusing to tell them who the phone seller is.