The lawyer for A, a Yangpyeong County official who was found dead after being questioned by the special counsel investigating Kim Keon-hee, said the team plans to file a complaint against the special counsel for abuse of authority and other charges.
Park Kyung-ho, A's attorney, held a press conference at about 11 a.m. on the 14th at a memorial altar set up in front of KT Gwanghwamun Building West in Jongno-gu, Seoul. A was said to have retained Park on 9th, the day before the death.
Park said, "We have applied to the special counsel team to inspect and copy A's suspect interrogation transcript," adding, "After reviewing the transcript, we plan to file complaints against the investigators who conducted the unlawful investigation for abuse of authority, fabrication of official documents, and cruel treatment."
According to Park, the last two pages of A's suspect interrogation transcript copy verbatim another person's statement, with A recorded as answering "yes." Specifically, there is a question, "Did the county mayor call on an internal county office line and say, 'Look kindly on this and handle it well'?" and it is written that A answered "yes."
Park said, "This is not true, but A was so distressed at the time that A could not speak up to correct it." Park also said that to the question, "Did the county mayor order that if the developer's documents come in, you should process them as is?" the answer is recorded as "yes," but A did not answer.
Park went on to say, "In the end, (the special counsel) forced a statement to the effect that A colluded with then-Yangpyeong County Mayor Kim Sun-kyo of the People Power Party to unjustly exempt (a company owned by the first lady's family) from development charges."
Earlier, on 10th, A, a Yangpyeong County Office official who was found dead at home, had been questioned as a suspect by the special counsel on 2nd in connection with allegations of special treatment in the Yangpyeong Gongheung District involving first lady Kim Keon-hee's family.
The Gongheung District special treatment allegations are that ESI&D, a family company of the first lady, failed to complete a development project within the deadline from 2011 to 2016 but, with help from Yangpyeong County, was neither assessed nor paid development charges. In 2016, A was the Head of Team in charge of assessing development charges related to the Gongheung District project.
Meanwhile, the special counsel said that, prompted by A's death, it would review the investigation process and methods to date as of the previous day and check whether there had been any potential human rights violations, such as coerced statements.