Police question complainant over Lee Hye-hoon’s alleged unpaid apartment gift tax: "High likelihood of tax evasion"

According to The Financial News, police have summoned Lee Jong-bae, a People Power Party Seoul Metropolitan Council member who filed a complaint over allegations that Minister of Planning and Budget nominee Lee Hye-hoon failed to pay gift tax on an apartment.
Seoul Bangbae Police Station stated on the 22nd that in the afternoon it called in Lee Jong-bae, who had accused the nominee of violating the Punishment of Tax Offenses Act, for questioning as the complainant.
Before the questioning, Lee Jong-bae released a statement saying, "Even when members of the confirmation hearing committee asked her to submit records of her gift tax payments, the nominee has refused to provide them. There is a very strong possibility that she committed tax evasion." He continued, "If a nominee for Minister of Planning and Budget has evaded taxes, she has already lost her qualifications as a candidate. It is a betrayal of honest taxpayers and like handing the keys to the granary to a thief."
Speaking to reporters before appearing for questioning the same day, he also said, "There are tax evasion suspicions involving the entire family, including financial transactions by her children and gift tax related to her husband." He added, "For now, as we are still in the vetting stage, I first filed a complaint over the apartment gift tax. If she is later appointed, I plan to file additional complaints over the other allegations as well."
On the 11th, Lee Jong-bae filed a complaint alleging that when Lee Hye-hoon acquired an apartment in 2024, she received a 35% ownership stake as a gift but did not pay the required gift tax.
Earlier, the day before, police questioned as a complainant Kim Hanme, head of Citizens' Action for Judicial Justice, who had accused Lee Hye-hoon of delaying the registration of her eldest son's marriage in order to inflate the number of dependents and thereby win an apartment subscription lottery. On the morning of the 22nd, they also summoned Kim Soon Hwan, secretary-general of the Committee for the Protection of Ordinary People's Livelihood, who had filed a complaint over alleged preferential treatment in military service for Lee’s son.
psh@fnnews.com Reporter Park Sung-hyun Reporter