POLICE INVESTIGATION INVOLVING LEE

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Police have wrapped investigation into allegations that main opposition Democratic Party chairman Lee Jae-myung lied about a controversial land development project during a parliamentary audit last year, and transferred the case to the prosecution. But the police dropped charges in another case that alleged Lee's camp used a publicly owned facility to set up an informal election camp during the presidential campaign. With the statute of limitations on election law violations set to expire soon, police probe results are swiftly coming in.

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During a parliamentary audit of Gyeonggi-do Province last year. Then Gyeonggi governor Lee Jae-myung was questioned about whether preferential benefits were granted to a development project in Baekhyeon-dong, Seongnam city when he was serving as the city's mayor. Lee gave this response.

[Soundbite] Lee Jae-myung(Then Gyeonggi-do Prov. Governor) : "A mandatory clause obligates local gov’t heads to reflect requests on urban planning made by the land minister. I was threatened over dereliction of duty if I didn’t accept the request."

He basically said that due to pressure from the land ministry, he inevitably allowed a change in land use terms for an apartment complex to be built in Baekhyeon-dong at a site that formerly housed the Korea Food Research Institute. The police viewed this as a lie. For their reasoning, officers pointed to an internal document of the Seongnam city government at the time. It stated that the land ministry's request for cooperation do not have to be accepted by any means and that changing land use terms must be reconsidered. Police believe that Lee citing "pressure" from the land ministry while he was briefed on this report constitutes spreading of false information. Last week, Lee was transferred to the prosecution on charges of election law violation. Now with the ball in their court, prosecutors will decide whether to indict the former presidential candidate and current chair of the main opposition before September 9 when the statute of limitations on the case expires. In addition to the false information charge, police continue to look into the Baekhyeon-dong case involving the main allegations about the special benefits offered. Another case involving Lee has been concluded which alleged his camp used a publicly owned facility to set up an informal election headquarters during the presidential campaign. Police dropped the charges, saying they found no evidence the venue was used as Lee's election camp during the primary campaign process. There is still one other case subject to the approaching statute of limitations. Police are also speeding up this probe which concerns allegations of illegality in Lee's payment of lawyer fees.