Prosecutors probe alleged coordination on First Lady's statement in stock case

Prosecutors investigating the remaining special cases from the Yoon Suk-yeol administration have reportedly uncovered evidence suggesting pre-investigation coordination between the First Lady's office and a previous prosecution team. This coordination allegedly involved sharing a draft of a written statement concerning the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation allegations.

The special investigation team is reportedly working to identify the prosecution official who received the draft from the First Lady's side. They are also considering applying charges of invalidating official documents for the alleged omission or concealment of this draft from the investigation records.

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Prosecutors are considering applying charges of invalidating official documents for the alleged omission or concealment of this draft from the investigation records.

According to reports, the special team obtained a draft of the First Lady's written statement from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office during searches in March and April. This draft, scanned into PDF format on June 11, 2024, was created about a month before the First Lady officially submitted her response on July 5, 2024. The draft reportedly contained sections marked in red and blue, with the final version retaining most red-marked text while altering or deleting blue-marked portions.

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It is impossible for the prosecution to receive a draft from the suspect and not register it, only registering the final version.

This evidence has led the special investigation team to strongly suspect that the prosecution team guided the First Lady's side to modify specific wording, tone, and content in favor of her defense, under prior agreement. This contrasts with a previous written statement submitted during a 2021 investigation, which contained numerous discrepancies with objective evidence, prompting the then-investigation team to deem a face-to-face questioning of the First Lady necessary.

Furthermore, the special investigation team discovered that the draft statement was not included in the official investigation records. Only the final 70-page response was reportedly submitted and filed on July 5, 2024. Prosecutors reportedly believe that failing to include the draft, which became an official document upon receipt from the First Lady's side, constitutes a violation of the law on invalidating official documents. This law penalizes those who damage or conceal official documents, carrying a penalty of up to seven years in prison or a fine of up to 10 million won.

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It is not a normal process and applying charges of invalidating official documents seems possible.

However, sources from the previous investigation team reportedly countered that the draft was merely part of the response process to questions previously posed to the First Lady's side. They claim it was a provisional document shared by the First Lady's lawyer, asking, "Would it be okay to send it like this?" before obtaining the First Lady's signature on the final version. They assert it was not included in the records because the First Lady's side was scheduled to resubmit the final version anyway. The special investigation team is reportedly focusing its efforts on confirming the circumstances under which the draft was delivered to the prosecution and whether the then-investigation team was involved in the revision process.

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It was part of the process of responding to the contents requested by the First Lady in advance.