Church tied to evidence destruction

[Anchor]

The Kim Keon-hee special investigation team has uncovered circumstances suggesting that the Unification Church may have destroyed evidence ahead of a possible investigation into allegations of overseas gambling.

The special investigation team assumes that they received intelligence from the so-called "Yoon's key associates" and deleted related materials.

Reporter Jeong Hae-joo has the exclusive coverage.

[Report]

In 2022, the Unification Church came under the threat of investigation.

This was due to allegations that Chairwoman Han Hak-ja and others were involved in gambling activities worth 60 billion won at a casino in Las Vegas, USA.

The Kim Keon-hee special investigation team discovered that the Unification Church allegedly attempted to suppress the police investigation through figures known as "the Yoon key associates" prompting the team to carry out a search and seizure operation.

During the investigation, they found evidence of deletions in the seized accounting records.

The deleted items include accounting data from 2010 to 2012, such as "overseas business travel expenses," "countries visited," and "regions."

The accounting books were modified in October 2022, which was when the Chuncheon Police Station had received intelligence about possible overseas gambling and was considering launching an investigation.

In particular, it was just over a month after Mr. Yoon, the former head of the Unification Church, had advised to "prepare for the search and seizure."

The special investigation team suspects that Mr. Yoon may have obtained police intelligence and engaged in organized destruction of evidence.

[Yoon ○○/Former Head of the Unification Church/July 30th: "(The Unification Church claims this is a personal deviation of the head, do you have anything to say?) …"]

The special investigation team also suspect that Representative Kwon Seong-dong of the People Power Party may have been the source of the leaked information.

It has been confirmed that Mr. Yoon mentioned "Yoon Haek-kwan", the so-called Yoon key associates, in conversations with Unification Church officials. Representative Kwon is under suspicion of receiving illegal political funds worth 100 million won from the Unification Church.

In response to the allegations, the Unification Church stated that it is difficult to respond while the investigation is ongoing.

Representative Kwon also stated that he has never had any financial transactions with the Unification Church, nor any inappropriate relationships involving favors or organizational connections.

This is Jeong Hae-joo from KBS News.