박보람
| 2023-02-16 09:46:02
opposition leader-warrant
Prosecutors seek arrest warrant for opposition leader
SEOUL, Feb. 16 (Yonhap) -- Prosecutors sought an arrest warrant for opposition leader Lee Jae-myung on Thursday as part of a high-profile development corruption investigation.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office filed for the warrant to arrest Lee, the chair of the main opposition Democratic Party, on breach of duty, third-party bribery and other charges.
The far-reaching investigation centers on allegations private partners were allowed to reap windfall gains from two lucrative apartment complex development projects in Seongnam's Daejang-dong and Wirye districts through shady arrangements.
Lee, who served as mayor of Seongnam from 2010-2018, faces suspicions that he had inside development information leaked to the private partners, allowing them to rake in huge profits at the cost of the Seongnam city government's finances.
He is also suspected of causing huge financial damage to the city government by allegedly approving the removal of a profit-sharing arrangement for the Daejang-dong project, consequently letting the private partners, not the city government, pocket excess profits from the project.
Lee underwent three rounds of questioning by prosecutors in a span of a month, including the latest one on Feb. 10, over the development corruption cases and a separate bribery case involving Seongnam's municipal football club.
Lee has denied all the allegations, branding the investigation as politically orchestrated by the Yoon Suk Yeol government to remove a "political enemy." Lee ran in last year's presidential election where Yoon won by a razor-thin margin over Lee.
Despite the arrrest warrant request, Lee is expected to avoid arrest because, by law, prosecutors need parliamentary consent to arrest a lawmaker while the assembly is in session, and the National Assembly, where the DP has a majority, is expected to refuse to consent to his arrest.
(END)
[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]