Former Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Baek Un-gyu is leaving the courthouse after a warrant substantive examination held at the Seoul Eastern District Court in Songpa-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 15th. news
The arrest warrant for former Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Baek Woon-gyu, who is the subject of a major investigation into the so-called ‘Ministry of Industry and Commerce Blacklist’ allegation that he forced the heads of agencies under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to resign, has been dismissed. It is expected that the prosecution’s investigation aimed at the senior Blue House will put a stop to the investigation. In February of last year, a request for an arrest warrant was also requested for former Minister Baek in connection with the ‘suspicious manipulation of the economic evaluation of the Wolsong nuclear power plant’, but it was also dismissed.
Judge Shin Yong-moo of the Seoul Eastern District Court in charge of warrants said, “It seems that the general vindication of the criminal charges has been made, but some allegations are open to contention. There is,” he explained, explaining the reason for the dismissal.
Judge Shin also said, “If the suspect is arrested in a situation where additional investigation into the suspect is unavoidable, it is likely to have a profound effect on the suspect’s exercise of the right to defend.”
Judge Shin said, “It is difficult to believe that the suspect is currently under criminal trial for a separate case or that there is a risk of escaping in light of the suspect’s status and attitude, and there is virtually no possibility that the suspect will convince another suspect or witness to make a statement favorable to him. no,” he decided. Another reason for dismissal was that it was difficult to believe that there was a risk of further destruction of evidence by former Minister Paik, as a considerable amount of objective evidence was secured to the investigative agency.
Prosecutors have been investigating after reporting that former Minister Paik had unfairly intervened in the personnel affairs of public institutions, such as forcing 13 heads of departments under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy appointed by the Park Geun-hye government to submit their resignations from 2017 to 2018, right after the Moon Jae-in administration took office. Former Minister Paik is also being accused of unfairly supporting the appointment of a specific person to the successor to the head of the agency and instructing him to cancel the internal personnel appointments made before the appointment of the successor to the head of the agency. At the time of the prosecution’s investigation, former Minister Baek denied the allegations, saying, “During his tenure as minister, he handled matters in accordance with the provisions of the law.”
Previously, the Liberty Korea Party (currently the Power of the People) filed a complaint with the prosecution against former Minister Baek and others in January 2019, saying that the Ministry of Industry had forced the presidents of affiliated organizations such as KEPCO subsidiaries to resign. Prosecutors’ investigation, which had been quiet, began in earnest shortly after the inauguration of the Yun Seok-yeol administration.
As the arrest warrant for former Minister Baek was dismissed on the same day, the prosecution’s investigation aimed at members of the Moon Jae-in government’s Blue House is expected to be halted. Prosecutors are planning to call in Park Sang-hyeok, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, who served as the executive officer of the Blue House’s senior personnel office between 2017 and 2018 to investigate whether the Blue House has interfered, but the power of the investigation is bound to decline.
Rep. Park Sang-hyuk said on his Facebook page on the same day, “The prosecution requested an investigation of a witness on the 7th.
Earlier, in April 2019, the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office also requested a preliminary arrest warrant for Kim Eun-kyung, former Minister of Environment at the time of the investigation of the ‘Ministry of Environment blacklist’, a structure similar to the suspicion of blacklist by the Ministry of Industry, but was dismissed.
The prosecution plans to decide whether to re-apply for an arrest warrant for former Minister Baek through a supplementary investigation.
Najuye reporter juye@hankookilbo.com
