'Trial without Lee' Jeong Jin-sang's Daejang-dong Case Resumes Next Month... Nam Wook's Absence as Witness

[Financial News] The trial for the Daejang-dong scandal, proceeding without President Lee Jae-myung, will be held every Tuesday after the court's summer break. As Nam Wook, a private contractor involved in Daejang-dong, did not appear as a witness on the 21st, witness questioning will take place after the break.
Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Agreement Division 33 (Presiding Judge Lee Jin-gwan) held a trial date on the 21st for Jeong Jin-sang, former head of political coordination at the Democratic Party's representative office, regarding the Daejang-dong, Wirye, Baekhyeon-dong, and Seongnam FC allegations, and announced, "The next trial will proceed every Tuesday at 10 a.m. starting August 12."
Jeong's side requested to exclude at least one trial per month, citing other trials scheduled on Tuesdays, while the prosecution urged for swift proceedings, expressing concerns over the prolonged process. The court stated, "We will proceed for now and discuss again if circumstances arise."
Previously, the court, citing the presidential immunity under Article 84 of the Constitution, decided to schedule President Lee's trial at a later date, effectively suspending his trial. Consequently, only the trial for Jeong is proceeding.
On this day, the plan was to question Nam Wook, a private contractor involved in Daejang-dong, as a witness, but as Mr. Nam did not appear, the questioning was postponed to the next dates, August 12 and 19. Nam submitted an absence notice on the 18th, citing reasons such as "a meeting scheduled in Jeju Island," but the court imposed a fine, stating "there seems to be no justifiable reason," and warned of forced summons if absent again.
On this day, Jeong's side requested the court to dismiss the indictment, accusing the prosecution of violating the principle of indictment exclusivity (the principle that prevents judges from forming prejudices by citing documents outside the indictment). This means nullifying the indictment due to defects in litigation conditions or procedural flaws.
Jeong's side pointed out, "The prosecution excessively documented Jeong's political career and the work relationships and role distribution of the defendants," arguing that "(the indictment content) is unrelated to the charges."
The prosecution suspects that Jeong conspired with President Lee, who was then the mayor of Seongnam, to exclude Seongnam Urban Development Corporation from the Baekhyeon-dong development project from April 2014 to March 2018, following lobbyist Kim In-seop's request, and gave preferential treatment to private contractor Jeong Ba-ul. They suspect that the two raised the land use of the Korea Food Research Institute relocation site in Baekhyeon-dong from 'green area' to 'semi-residential area' in four stages, thereby granting Jeong preferential treatment and causing at least 20 billion won in damages to the corporation.
 
scottchoi15@fnnews.com Choi Eun-sol Reporter