During his term as the governor of Gyeonggi Province, Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, was indicted on charges of misusing corporate cards for personal purposes. On the 27th, his camp stated, "We deny all the charges."
On that day, during the 3rd preparatory hearing of the case regarding the alleged breach of trust involving Lee Jae-myung and Jeong Mo, former secretary general of the governor's office, along with Bae Mo, a former special civil servant of Gyeonggi Province, held by the 11th Criminal Division of Suwon District Court (Director General Song Byeong-hoon), Lee's attorney noted, "The defendant did not conspire to commit the crime and did not give any instructions." As there was no obligation for the defendants to attend, Lee and others did not appear in court.
The attorney stated, "The defendant was already cleared of charges related to the misuse of corporate cards in September 2021 by the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency. However, as the prosecution was unable to obtain a search warrant while investigating Lee's spouse, Kim Hye-kyung, in October 2023, they added the defendant as a suspect and obtained a search warrant to continue their investigation, making the indictment itself unlawful." He also claimed, "This indictment was made regardless of how the related parties testify, indicating a predetermined intent to prosecute."
The attorney for Jeong, the former secretary general, also denied the charges, stating, "At that time, we only received reports on the official schedule of the governor and held meetings without receiving reports related to the indictment contents or establishing a separate command structure, thus did not give any orders." Bae, who is known to have served as a personal secretary to Lee's wife, Kim Hye-kyung, withheld a statement.
In response, the prosecution stated, "When the search warrant application was rejected in October 2023, Lee Jae-myung was included as both a defendant and a suspect," adding, "It seems the attorney is distorting the facts."
Meanwhile, on that day, Lee's attorney requested that the court extend the preparatory hearing once more, considering the implications of the defendant being in a situation just ahead of the presidential election next month. The court had previously announced that it would conclude the preparatory hearing on the 27th.
Considering that Bae's stance on the charges had not been determined, unlike Lee and Jeong's sides who denied the charges, the court decided to continue the preparatory hearing once on July 1.
Lee and others were indicted without detention on November 19 of last year for allegedly using a total of 1.0653 billion won for personal purposes, including expenditures on fruits, sandwiches, and food costs using corporate cards and Gyeonggi Province's budget from July 2018 to October 2021 during his term as governor. The prosecution decided not to indict Kim.