Investigation on Cheonggyecheon Project to Expand

President Kil of a real estate development firm, “Miraero RED,” who offered 1.4 billion won in cash to Kim Il-joo, the Grand National Party (GNP)’s ex-head of a district chapter of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, for a favor in the Cheonggyecheon restoration project, claimed that he was introduced to Mayor Lee Myung-bak in April last year by Kim.

In a telephone interview with Dong-A Ilbo on May 11, Kil said that Kim had promised him a chance to meet the mayor, but it kept being postponed. “So, I asked a relative of mine, who worked as a KBS senior reporter, before his retirement to check if my interview was scheduled, and later I received a call confirming the appointment,” said Kil.

In this regard, the attention is being focused on whether Kim actually played an influential role in the project at Kil’s request. Prosecutors, on the other hand, stated that they found nothing wrong with the mayor’s meeting with a citizen who had something to appeal, adding that they have no plan or leads to investigate the mayor for now.

In the meantime, the Special Investigation Department I of the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office (chief prosecutor: Yoo Jae-man) additionally conducted a search and seizure of the offices of the two reconstruction firms.

Prosecutors reportedly conducted this additional search and seizure in order to reinforce its investigation after they found two memos regarding the request for a favor in the redevelopment project during a search and seizure of the office of Yang Yoon-jae, the second vice mayor of the city.

Keuk-In Bae bae2150@donga.com