A second comprehensive special counsel team investigating remaining allegations from the "three special counsel probes" — covering insurrection, first lady Kim Keon-hee, and the death of a Marine — indicted four people on Monday, including former Presidential Chief of Staff Kim Dae-ki and former Presidential Office General Affairs Secretary Yoon Jae-soon, over allegations surrounding the relocation of the presidential residence. It marks the first indictment about 100 days after the comprehensive special counsel team was launched.
The special counsel team said it indicted Kim and Yoon with detention on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of rights. Former Presidential Office Management Secretary Kim Oh-jin and former Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min were indicted without detention on the same charges. Yoon also faces additional charges of fabricating official documents and using fabricated official documents.
The favoritism allegations surrounding the residence relocation center on claims that "21gram," a company without a general construction license, received preferential treatment by winning private contracts for the relocation and expansion of the presidential office and residence after former President Yoon Suk-yeol took office. 21gram is the company that sponsored exhibitions by Covana Contents, run by first lady Kim Keon-hee, and handled the design and construction of its offices.
The defendants are suspected of ordering the illegal diversion of budget funds between May and July 2022 to secure 4.1 billion won in construction costs demanded by 21gram, a company without construction qualifications, during the presidential residence relocation work.
According to the special counsel, 21gram presented construction costs without objective calculation grounds, but the defendants pushed ahead with the budget diversion over objections from officials at the Government Buildings Management Office and the Ministry of Economy and Finance in order to pay the construction costs to match that amount. In this process, diversion and execution procedures involving 2.09 billion won in state budget funds were carried out.
The special counsel team explained, "We confirmed that the defendants ignored objections from officials at relevant agencies and ordered the illegal budget diversion, and to evade responsibility, made it appear as if each agency had independently decided to divert its own budget, and in this process deceived the public by publicly announcing externally that the construction would be completed within the reserve fund." The team added that its investigation also revealed that a department head at the Government Buildings Management Office who raised concerns about the budget diversion process was subjected to personnel disadvantages.
The special counsel team is currently conducting additional investigations into conspiracy relationships related to the illegal budget diversion. To this end, it conducted search and seizure operations Sunday on the residences of four people, including the Ministry of Planning and Budget, the then-budget office director, and the Presidential Office's economic and financial affairs secretary.
Meanwhile, the special counsel team said it received two prosecutors dispatched from the Ministry of Justice on Monday: Lee Sang-don (bar exam class 6) and Park Dal-jae (bar exam class 10). Lee is currently serving in the third criminal division of the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office after working at the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office and the Yeoju branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, while Park is serving in the second criminal division of the Ansan branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office after working at the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office and the Sokcho branch of the Chuncheon District Prosecutors' Office. Earlier this month, the Ministry of Justice publicly recruited three prosecutors to be dispatched to the comprehensive special counsel through the prosecution's internal network.
