JEONG JIN-SANG QUESTIONED BY PROSECUTION

[Anchor Lead]

It was found that Jeong Jin-sang allegedly involved in the Seongnam land development scandal was questioned by the prosecution recently. Jeong is one of Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung’s closest associate and a member of Lee’s election campaign team. Jeong is accused of pressuring former Seongnam Development Corporation President Hwang Moo-seong to resign in the early part of the Daejang-dong development project.

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The Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office investigating the Daejang-dong development scandal summoned Jeong Jin-sang on January 13th. Jeong was questioned as a defendant before returning home past midnight. He assisted Lee Jae-myung by serving as Seongnam city government’s policy director while Lee was mayor. He signed off on several documents related to the scandalous Daejang-dong development project such as authorization reports for changing the Pangyo-Daejang urban development plan in 2016. Jeong is also suspected of pressuring former SDC president Hwang Moo-seong to resign. Hwang claims the late SDC executive Yoo Han-gi had urged him to step down, saying that it was the will of Mayor Lee Jae-myung and Director Jeong Jin-sang. Jeong was also found to have had several phone calls with former SDC acting president Yoo Dong-gyu in the early part of the prosecution’s investigation. It was revealed they had eight calls between them on the eve and on the day of the prosecution’s search and seizure operation on Yoo’s residence. Previously, a civic group had reported Jeong for pressuring Hwang to resign. The civic group filed an application for a ruling on January 14th, asking the court to rule on the indictment since less than thirty days remain in the statute of limitations on Jeong.