The People Power Party proposed a bill that would prevent prosecutors from arbitrarily dropping charges in cases they have already indicted. The ruling camp believes prosecutors' decision not to appeal the first-instance rulings for private operators in the Daejang-dong case will be used as a preliminary step to dismiss the indictment in President Lee Jae-myung's trial, and says it will move to block that at the source.
Members of the People Power Party on the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee held a press conference at the National Assembly press center on the morning of the 13th and said they had introduced an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act that deletes the clause stating, "An indictment may be dismissed until the pronouncement of the first-instance verdict."
Gwak Gyu-taek of the People Power Party, who prepared the bill, said, "The indictment dismissal system has long faced calls for abolition because it can be exercised arbitrarily due to non-legal factors such as the interests of those in power," adding, "With prosecutors dropping the appeal against the Daejang-dong group, the risk of that concern becoming reality has grown very high."
After the press conference, Na Kyung-won of the People Power Party told reporters, "There is only one reason the no-appeal case occurred: 'erasing President Lee Jae-myung's crimes,' and we must fundamentally block it through legal revisions," adding, "Minister Jung Sung-ho must naturally resign in light of the facts that, following the president's orders, he instructed prosecutors to drop the appeal, issued a verbal and irregular directive, and gave false testimony at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee."
She went on, "Our party's position is that we are open to any and all parliamentary investigations and special counsel probes related to the decision not to appeal in the Daejang-dong case, in whatever form or manner," stressing, "In addition to the resignations of Minister Jung and Vice Minister Lee Jin-soo of the Justice Ministry, it is now time for President Lee Jae-myung to answer."
The current Criminal Procedure Act allows prosecutors to dismiss an indictment until the first-instance verdict is pronounced. In President Lee's cases, the trials that were suspended at first instance are: ▲ the Daejang-dong and Baekhyeon-dong development corruption and Seongnam FC sponsorship case ▲ the SSANGBANGWOOL remittances to North Korea case ▲ the Gyeonggi Province budget private misuse case.
The People Power Party believes the ruling camp is carrying out a so-called "indictment dismissal operation" for President Lee's trials, using the decision not to appeal in the Daejang-dong case as a springboard. In fact, Democratic Party of Korea leader Jung Chung-rae said at the supreme council meeting the previous day, "Is there any evidence that then-Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung received even a single 1,000-won bill?" and added, "If so, isn't Lee Jae-myung not guilty?"