Belated arrest

 

Prosecution should do more to scrutinize development scandal

 

Kwak Sang-do, a former opposition lawmaker suspected of accepting bribes in a high-profile land development project, has been arrested. On Friday, the Seoul Central District Court issued an arrest warrant for the former two-term lawmaker, citing clear charges brought against him and the possible destruction of evidence. The warrant issuance came two months after a first warrant request was rejected in December.

 

In their second attempt, prosecutors added another charge, arguing that Kwak received 50 million won ($42,000) in illegal political funds in 2016 from a lawyer arrested for his involvement in the Daejang-dong land development scandal. Kwak's arrest came too late, given that the public was irked by the revelation that he had received 5 billion won in the form of severance pay for his son from Hwacheon Daeyu, an asset management firm at the center of the scandal.

 

The amount of money his son received was too high, considering his monthly salary of 2.5 million won since June 2015 when he began working for the company. But Kwak brazenly denied all allegations against him and the first warrant request was rejected, raising public fury over injustices in law enforcement. It's fortunate that this distorted reality has been corrected albeit belatedly.

 

However, Kwak's arrest is just the beginning of an investigation into lobbying allegations raised against a group of people dubbed the “5 billion won club” in the land development scandal. Former special prosecutor Park Young-soo, former Supreme Court Justice Kwon Soon-il and several others are known to have been promised 50 billion won each in exchange for aiding Hwacheon Daeyu. Yet prosecutors have sat on their hands instead of investigating them. Park, in particular, is reported to have served as an executive adviser to Hwacheon Daeyu, and his daughter had been employed by the company. Considering that most of those involved are from the prosecution, the tepid investigation is nothing but an attempt to protect its own. The prosecution should conduct an impartial investigation so that the whole picture of the scandal can be laid bare.