“Manbae Kim wrote four scenarios to hand over 70 billion won to Yoo Dong-gyu from February of this year.”

Yoo Dong-gyu (former head of the planning division of Seongnam Urban Development Corporation) is known to have demanded 70 billion won from Kim Man-bae, the real owner of Hwacheon Daewoo, in exchange for convenience during the development of Daejang-dong. Kim Man-bae agreed to pay 42.8 billion won, excluding taxes, out of 70 billion won to Yoo from February to April. At this time, it is known that Kim discussed in detail four ways to deliver 70 billion won.

Yoo Dong-gyu demands money in return for ‘private business convenience’

The Dong-A Ilbo reported on the 23rd that this was reported in the indictment of Yoo Dong-gyu, who was handed over to trial in connection with the development of Daejang-dong. On the 21st, the Seoul Central Prosecutor’s Office’s dedicated investigation team indicted Yoo on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (bribery) and taking (promises) after improper treatment.

According to the newspaper, Yoo Dong-gyu met Kim Man-bae at a karaoke room in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do on October 30, 2020 and asked for money. Kim is the de facto owner of Hwacheon Daeyu, who participated in ‘Seongnam’s Garden’, a development company in Daejang-dong. Hwacheon Daeyu’s subsidiaries are Cheonhwa-dong 1-7, and these subsidiaries also own a 6.0% stake in Seongnam’s Garden.

At this meeting, Mr. Yoo asked Mr. Kim, “Give me the price for helping me.” From the end of 2014 to February 2015, before the public-private joint development method of Daejang-dong was even finalized, Yoo promised Kim and Nam-wook (owner of Cheonhwa-dongin No. Kim replied, “I will pay about 70 billion won to Yoo’s request.”

Specific discussion on ‘four ways to pay 70 billion won’

Yoo and Kim discussed how to pay 70 billion won. There were four scenarios mentioned. The first was to purchase Yuwon Holdings, an unlisted company owned by Yoo at a high price. Yuwon Holdings was founded by Mr. Yoo after his nickname, ‘Yuwon’. It was said that Mr. Kim would buy the company’s stock at a high price and hand over 70 billion won to Yoo.

The second method was that Mr. Yoo received a dividend of 70 billion won from Cheonhwa-dongin No. 1 directly. The third method was that Mr. Kim received a dividend of 70 billion won from Cheonhwa-dongin No. 1 and presented it to Mr. Yoo.

Prosecutors believe that Yoo’s promise to receive 70 billion won in bribes in return for providing preferential treatment to Kim and others constitutes a charge of taking a bribe after improper conduct. On the other hand, Yoo’s lawyer argued in a statement on the 22nd that “Mr. Yoo has never received a large amount of bribes from the Wirye project or the Daejang-dong project.”

Regarding the ‘promise to pay 70 billion won’, he said, “Mr. Kim, who made a lot of money from the Daejang-dong business, said that he would give him tens of billions of won. It was an incident that we talked about without even knowing it and then became the main culprit in this case.”