Newstapa obtained a recording file containing the circumstances in which Daejang-dong’s group was covering up the prosecution’s investigation through reporter Kim Man-bae. The recording file, which lasts a total of 3 minutes and 56 seconds, was submitted by accountant Jeong Young-hak to the prosecution in October 2021. However, Jeong Young-hak included only two minutes of these in the ‘Jung Young-hak Transcript’ and did not include the remaining two minutes. It appears that he hid some of the information because he could be accused of being an accomplice.
On July 2, 2013, Namwook, who was investigated by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, called Younghak Jeong. Here, Namwook explains in detail the conversation he had with the investigator. Namwook said, “(The investigator) just covered it up. He opened it up and covered it up (the case),” and added, “Brother Manbae went through a lot of trouble.” In this process, the name of Yoon Gap-geun, first deputy chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (chief prosecutor level at the time), appears. Namwook even showed off his attitude by saying, “I’m going to get rid of it all… Take Woohyung out too.”
Afterwards, Namwook’s remarks turned into reality. At the time, the prosecution acquitted Nam Wook of the charges and ended the case without even registering Jo Woo-hyung as a suspect. It was former special prosecutor Park Young-soo who defended them at the time.
The 2013 investigation by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, as reported by the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation, was actually ‘covered up’.
Throughout the Jeong Young-hak transcript, there is evidence that Kim Man-bae is covering up the investigation into the Daejang-dong gang through high-ranking prosecutors. The most representative of these is the recording of the phone call between Nam Wook and Jeong Young-hak on July 2, 2013. To understand their conversation that day, background knowledge is needed.
In 2013, the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation reported Namwook, Jo Woohyung, and others to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
In November 2010, at the beginning of the Daejang-dong business, Jo Woo-hyung acquired the Daejang-dong business rights. At the same time, Jo Woo-hyung operated ‘Belita House’, a developer for the development of Pungdong District 2, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do. Belita House is one of four corporations suspected of being illegal businesses owned by Busan Savings Bank under a borrowed name, using Cho Woo-hyung as the name. Busan Savings Bank also lent 40.9 billion won here. Afterwards, Busan Savings Bank Vice Chairman Kim Yang instructed Jo Woo-hyung to transfer 8 billion won of the loan to another company, and Jo Woo-hyung did this. It was a breach of trust that caused damage to the company.
At the time the loan breach of trust occurred, the CEO of Belita House was Mr. Kang. Mr. Kang was Jo Woo-hyung’s junior in college and was the owner of Baji. The actual owner was Jo Woo-hyung. When the Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office began investigating the savings bank in 2011, Jo Woo-hyung changed the company’s CEO to Nam Wook. When Busan Savings Bank went bankrupt, the Deposit Insurance Corporation (hereinafter referred to as Yebo) began an investigation to recover the loan. Afterwards, Yebo reports all Belita House officials, Namwook, Woohyung Jo, and Mo Kang.
On July 2, 2013, Namwook was investigated by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office regarding this accusation. Immediately after being investigated, he called Younghak Jeong and said this.
○ Namwook: (Prosecution investigator) I will take responsibility and finish it.● Younghak Jeong: Hmm.○ Namwook: Okay, let’s wake up now. So, as we talk, the truth is that this is how it ended up like this. ‘Then Han, there’s about 1.7 billion Han in the air right now?’ They said so. I said, ‘It will be about that much.’ Then I said, ‘That’s roughly right.’ So, I said, ‘That’s right. But why did you create the material like this?’ Then he said, ‘Last time, the manager told me to just submit it as a fake, so I submitted it.’● Younghak Jeong: Ah.○ Namwook: So he just laughed. He just laughed. So, there are three copies of the register for that information. That’s out of ten. That was left out. ‘Let’s subtract this, then’ like that. ● Younghak Jeong: Okay, okay. Oh my, I’m glad. No, from the moment I said I was in it, I was very stressed, just- a recording of a phone call between Namwook and Jeong Younghak dated July 2, 2013. This is information that does not appear in the previously released Jeong Young-hak transcript.
In the recording file, Namwook said, “The investigator said he would call the person who reported the forecast and harass him.”
In the recording file, Namwook appears quite excited. Belita House is explaining to Jeong Young-hak about his own experience, saying, “The investigator told me to submit ‘fake’ materials to substantiate the allegations of loan-related corruption, so I told him I did, and the investigator just laughed.”
Jeong Young-hak breathes a sigh of relief, saying, “Oh, I’m so glad. No, I’ve been under a lot of stress since the moment I said I was in (the prosecution).” If the prosecution had punished them at this time, the Daejeon-dong project would also have been doomed to failure.
Namwook is said to have said something to the effect that ‘the prosecution investigators will call in the forecasters who reported them and scold them.’ If Namwook’s words are true, the prosecutor’s investigator did not simply provide convenience, but spoke as if he were in the same company as the criminal suspects.
○ Namwook: We even talked about that later. Why were you accused? So I kept talking. Then he said, ‘This bastard is the (Deposit Insurance Corporation) manager who accused me of making him angry.’ Then he said, ‘I’m a forecaster.’ ‘Aren’t you a lawyer?’, ‘You’re not a lawyer.’ ‘Then I’ll call you and pester you. ‘I will take revenge on you’. (The investigator) said so.● Jeong Young-hak: Then I’m glad that (the criminal charges) were revealed.○ Namwook: That’s right. They just covered it. ● Younghak Jeong: Yes. Okay, okay.○ Namwook: He covered it up completely. ● Younghak Jeong: Yes, I’m glad.○ Namwook: That’s why I was late.● Younghak Jeong: No, no. It’s okay if it’s okay.- Recorded phone call between Namwook and Jeong Younghak dated July 2, 2013. This is information that does not appear in the previously released Jeong Young-hak transcript.
“I told you to remove Woo-hyung too.”… As Nam-wook said, the
request route mentioned by Nam-wook in the recording was concluded as ‘no charges’ in the following order: ‘Kim Man-bae → Yoon Gap-geun (Central District Prosecutors’ Office 1st Deputy Director, Chief Prosecutor) → Investigator Choi.’
Namwook said, “No, but I see that Man-bae went through a lot of trouble… (The investigator) was talking about Deputy Director Yoon Gap-geun. There is no example of the chief prosecutor calling him directly. (Kim Man-bae) How long would he have gone to stir-fry before calling? “He says. Namwook also said, “So while I was criticizing him, I broke it all down. This is what happened. (Cho) Woo-hyung also drove to Kim (Vice President of Busan Savings Bank) and got Woo-hyung out of the way as well. (The investigator) said he knew. He said he heard it.” Add:
Namwook’s words that day eventually became reality. At the time, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office investigation department did not book Jo Woo-hyung as a suspect. According to Mr. Kang, the owner of Belita House, who was investigated by the prosecution, Woo-hyung Jo even confessed during the investigation, saying, “I am the real owner of Belita House, not Mr. Kang.” However, Jo Woo-hyung was released after only being questioned as a reference. Namwook and Kang were acquitted of charges.
Namwook’s words, “Drive it to Miss Kim (Vice President of Busan Savings Bank)” came true. In June 2014, the investigation department of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office indicted former Vice Chairman Kim Yang without detention on charges of breach of trust worth 8 billion won related to Belita House. Jo Woo-hyung, who escaped the Central District Prosecutors’ Office’s investigation network, was caught in 2015 when the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office reinvestigated the case. October 15, 2015
Gap-Geun Yoon “The call to the investigator is completely unfounded”… Investigator Choi “There is no way the first deputy director called”
All of the characters appearing in the recording file denied the suspicion of solicitation. Former High Prosecutors’ Office Chief Yoon Gap-geun (then 1st Deputy Chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office) strongly denied the suspicion of solicitation, saying, “I know who Kim Man-bae is because he has been a legal reporter for a long time, but I have never received any request, and I have never called the investigator in charge.” Investigator Choi, whom Namwook pointed out in the recording, refuted, “It’s been a long time since I investigated Namwook back then, so I don’t remember, and there’s no way the first deputy director called me.”
Nam Wook’s statement: “I think Kim Man-bae talked to the prosecution’s higher-ups.”
Nam-wook said in a prosecution investigation on November 24 last year that he had no choice but to be dragged around by Kim Man-bae because Kim Man-bae’s lobbying for the prosecution was sometimes realized. On this day, Namwook said, “I don’t know if Kim Man-bae received a request from Kim Man-bae and did not file an indictment, but I think Kim Man-bae did talk to his superiors at the prosecution. This is something that can be confirmed later, but would Kim Man-bae show off like that even though he didn’t ask for anything? Business This is at stake?… In fact, Kim Man-bae once said, ‘You will be acquitted’ before the case was disposed of,” he said, emphasizing that it was by no means a boast or a boast about Kim Man-bae’s legal connections.
In this situation, as the recording file of Daejang-dong’s group, which clearly contains the circumstances of lobbying for the prosecution to ‘stop the investigation’, has been released, it is necessary to confirm through investigation whether Kim Man-bae actually lobbied against the prosecution. However, the prosecution has not conducted an investigation for over two years even though it has secured a series of recording files and statements from those involved.
Newstapa is releasing the recording of the phone call between Namwook and Jeong Younghak, which contains the circumstances surrounding the prosecution’s investigation into Daejangdong’s group, without any arbitrary editing.
On October 22, 2021, the prosecution investigating the Daejang-dong스포츠토토 incident asked Namwook about the contents of the above recording file. In response, Namwook replied that everything in Jeong Younghak’s transcript was correct and that he had heard Kim Manbae say, “Don’t worry, I called Gapgeun.” Namwook said, however, that he did not know how Kim Man-bae actually made the request. The prosecutor also asked about the possibility that Kim Man-bae may have made a request in 2013 through Kwak Sang-do, who was the senior secretary for civil affairs at the time. Namwook replied, “Kim Man-bae often said that he was close to both Yoon Gap-geun and Kwak Sang-do, and he may have contacted Kwak Sang-do as well.”
