Prosecutors’ Comments on Land Issue Cause Controversy

In response to a vehement refutation by the former Seoul mayor yesterday, prosecutors said in an unexpected press conference, “If the Lee camp keeps railing against our investigation, we will disclose all that we have found out.” These threatening remarks from prosecutors are creating a huge controversy. At the center of the controversy is not how powerful that additional information will be, but rather whether it is desirable that prosecutors are sending these kinds of warning messages to the political sector. People are saying that maybe prosecutors are carrying out investigations with political motives, instead of doing their job.

A prosecutor-turned-lawyer said yesterday, “Holding a press conference to respond to Lee was not appropriate, because criticizing a government agency is very common. Prosecutors should speak through investigation results, not through remarks which can be misunderstood as threats.”

Some people close to prosecutors say that such a move by prosecutors is reasonable considering the criticisms levied on them by those who do not want to cooperate with the investigation. However, at the same time, many blame prosecutors because they failed to realize that those concerned did not have to come to the prosecutors’ office, because the case was statute-barred, and because they had no legal obligation to present at the court as a reference. Many think that prosecutors have dwelled too much on the idea that, “Prosecutors should resolve the suspicions that the public have.”

Another problem is that prosecutors seem to be jumping to conclusions even before finding out more about Lee Yeong-bae, and Lee Byeong-mo, the alleged property managers of Lee Sang-eun, eldest brother of former Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak. Lee Yeong-bae said, “I will cooperate with prosecutors, but my statements will be the same as before.” This comment is why prosecutors do not think the investigation will go as planned, and why they say, “An investigation into this case will reveal who the real owners of the property holdings are.”

Even though prosecutors want to successfully find out who the real owners are, it is unlikely they will be able to announce their findings before the GNP primary scheduled on August 19. This is because it will be difficult to get permission from the real owner to disclose his or her name in public. When prosecutors decide to go ahead with disclosing the name, what they will disclose additionally is also in question, because that will create a political stir.

Prosecutors said on August 13, “The real estate holdings that were supposed to be Lee Sang-eun’s seem to belong to someone else,” because Lee Sang-eun, who owned the real estate holdings in Dogok-dong jointly with Kim Jae-jeong (brother-in-law of the former Seoul mayor Lee), claims he does not know the whereabouts of the money that came from selling the property, and it is not clear where and how he spent around 1.5 billion won that he withdrew in cash.

Many people close to the prosecutors believe that there is a credible reason why prosecutors sent the warning. An official at the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office said, “The message is that prosecutors are confident about their investigation. If Lee keeps pushing them, they may disclose what they have found out.” However, any new information will not be very powerful, as most of the information they have has already been revealed. In other words, additional investigation results will be on the fringe and will not be major revelations.

needjung@donga.com dnsp@donga.com