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| ▲ Lee Hwa-young, former vice governor of Gyeonggi Province, answers lawmakers' questions during a parliamentary hearing at the National Assembly in Seoul on Oct. 2, 2024. (Yonhap) |
ruling party-opposition leader
Ruling party to file corruption complaint against opposition leader, others
SEOUL, Oct. 7 (Yonhap) -- The ruling People Power Party (PPP) said Monday it will file a complaint with the prosecution accusing opposition leader Lee Jae-myung and two others of involvement in bribery, graft and accepting illegal political funds.
The complaint, which will be filed by Rep. Joo Jin-woo, head of the PPP's legal advisory committee, will accuse Lee of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), former Gyeonggi Vice Gov. Lee Hwa-young and former Chairman Kim Seong-tae of underwear maker Ssangbangwool Group of involvement in the allegations based on an audio recording of an alleged conversation between Lee Hwa-young and his lawyer in July last year.
Joo disclosed parts of the recording during a parliamentary hearing last week, claiming it revealed the former vice governor was afraid the former Ssangbangwool chairman would expose he helped the opposition leader during his 2018 trial on election law violation charges, such as by paying his legal fees and lobbying the court.
In the recording, the former vice governor could be heard saying, "I'm actually very afraid."
The former vice governor and former Ssangbangwool chairman have both received prison sentences for their roles in illegally remitting US$8 million to North Korea in 2019 on behalf of the Gyeonggi provincial government when Lee Jae-myung was governor.
Last week, prosecutors demanded a three-year prison term for the DP leader on charges of suborning a former mayoral secretary to make false court testimony in his favor during the election law violation trial in 2018.
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