It has been reported that the police are investigating whether Independent lawmaker Lee Chun-seok violated the Political Fund Act in connection with suspicions of stock proxy trading.
According to the police and others on the 2nd, the Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency re-summoned lawmaker Lee and his aide, who lent his name, Cha, over the weekend. It is reported that the police questioned the source of the funds for the stocks in the account during the summons.
The police are said to have identified that aide Cha made multiple deposits in the range of hundreds of thousands of won into the stock account he used for lawmaker Lee. Consequently, the police are reportedly examining the possibility that aide Cha received money from lawmaker Lee and deposited it on his behalf, and whether some of lawmaker Lee's political funds were mixed in.
The Political Fund Act stipulates that political funds, such as donations, can only be used for political activities.
However, a police official noted, 'There have been additional investigations involving the suspects, but we cannot disclose specific details of the investigation.'
Lawmaker Lee was caught on camera trading artificial intelligence (AI) related stocks under the name of aide Cha in the National Assembly's main chamber at the beginning of last month. As the controversy spread, lawmaker Lee left the Democratic Party of Korea and stepped down from his position as chairman of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee and from the Economic Subcommittee of the Presidential Committee on Policy Planning.
Lawmaker Lee and aide Cha have acknowledged the allegations of violating the Financial Real Name Act related to proxy trading but reportedly deny the allegations of violating the Capital Markets Act for using undisclosed information obtained from the Presidential Committee on Policy Planning. The police are said to be comparing the periods and trading volumes in which lawmaker Lee conducted stock transactions under a proxy with the stocks traded during that period and the details of legislative activities.