Comprehensive Special Prosecutor Team raids prosecutors and police simultaneously over alleged Yoon administration cover-up of investigations

[Financial News] The Second Comprehensive Special Prosecutor Team, led by Special Counsel Kwon Chang-young, has launched compulsory investigations into the prosecution and police to uncover allegations of cover-ups under the Yoon administration.
At a regular press briefing at the team’s office in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on the afternoon of the 20th, Assistant Special Prosecutor Kim Ji-mi said, "We are searching the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA), the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency, and the Chuncheon Police Station to investigate how police intelligence related to the 'Unification Church overseas gambling case' was leaked outside." She added, "We are also searching the Supreme Prosecutors' Office of the Republic of Korea (SPO) to examine allegations that prosecutors covered up the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation investigation."
In response to a reporter’s question about whether the team had secured evidence that former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife were briefed by police on the investigation in the alleged cover-up of the 'Unification Church overseas gambling case,' she said, "We have not obtained any new evidence. But in terms of timing, it was a period when ties between the Unification Church and Yoon were deepening and becoming more solid." She added, "We reviewed the circumstances and included them in the warrant."
The Unification Church overseas gambling allegations began with intelligence received around June 2022 from the Chuncheon Police Station in Gangwon Province. At the time, police obtained information that Hak Ja Han and other Unification Church officials had gambled hundreds of times at casinos in Las Vegas between 2012 and 2021, involving roughly 60 billion won, and that funds from the foundation and the group may have been embezzled and moved through illegal foreign exchange transactions. Police then launched a pre-indictment investigation.
However, before the investigation could fully get underway, intelligence related to the police probe reportedly leaked into political circles through the involvement of People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Seong-dong, raising suspicions that the case had been covered up.
A recording was also released of Yoon Young-ho, the former head of the Unification Church World Mission Headquarters and once described as the church’s No. 2 figure, speaking with an acquaintance about the case. In the recording, Yoon said, "The 'top official' mentioned the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act. He said we should prepare because a search and seizure could come," and "Yoon's core circle told me about the police's intelligence investigation. I reported it to the higher-ups."
The Special Prosecutor's Team for Kim Kun-hee raided the KNPA and other agencies in July last year to investigate the allegations and indicted Kwon and Hak Ja Han, who were involved in the exchange of police intelligence. However, it did not complete its investigation into police officials, including the source of the leak.
The comprehensive special prosecutor team also suspects that prosecutors handling the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case involving First Lady Kim Keon-hee had already decided on a non-indictment outcome and conducted a lenient investigation. At the time, Yoon and his wife were accused of influencing the probe through former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae.
After the passage of the Resolution Calling for the Lifting of Martial Law on December 3, investigations have also continued into allegations of a so-called 'second martial law' plot. The comprehensive special prosecutor team is understood to have recently questioned current and former officials of the Republic of Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff (ROK JCS).
During that process, investigators secured testimony to the effect that after the National Assembly passed the resolution calling for the lifting of martial law, but before the Cabinet approved the lifting of martial law, there was a request to deploy additional troops to the ROK JCS.
The comprehensive special prosecutor team is reportedly investigating on the suspicion that then ROK JCS Chairman Kim Myung-soo and other senior commanders either took part in the matter or at least turned a blind eye to it.
The team also said it is investigating allegations involving Kim Keon-hee’s family, including preferential treatment in the route change for the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway, the alleged creation of a blacklist by the Defense Counterintelligence Command (DCC), and illegal selection of contractors for the presidential residence relocation project.
kyu0705@fnnews.com Kim Dong-gyu Reporter