On the 2nd, it was reported that the prosecution discovered circumstances in which an acquaintance of Myeong Tae-gyun and the family of former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Young-sun purchased land near the Changwon National Industrial Complex before the site announcement.
The wife of Mr. Kim’s younger brother, Mr. A, acquired land and a building of over 470 square meters, which includes a single-story house (46.28㎡) in Buk-myeon, Uichang-gu, Changwon City, South Gyeongsang Province, on February 3rd last year for 345 million won.
The registration was processed on March 15th of the following month, the same day the government announced the site for the Changwon National Industrial Complex.
A week before the registration, on March 8th, a mortgage right for half of the purchase price, 172.5 million won, was established in the name of another younger brother, Mr. B.
It turned out that the wife of Mr. A and Mr. B jointly purchased the property.
The area, which was the constituency of the former lawmaker, is located about 2 kilometers in a straight line from the candidate site of the Changwon National Industrial Complex and is also near a highway interchange.
The prosecution suspects that Mr. A’s family and Mr. B purchased the land with prior knowledge of the candidate site information and conducted searches of their residences on the 29th of last month.
On the same day, they obtained relevant materials through searches of offices handling tasks related to the Changwon National Industrial Complex at the Gyeongnam Province and Changwon City government offices.
Regarding this, former lawmaker Kim’s side reportedly stated, “I learned about my brothers purchasing the land a long time after it happened.”
Suspicion was also raised that an acquaintance of Mr. Myeong acquired around 14,000 square meters of land, across 11 plots near the Changwon National Industrial Complex, for about 3 billion won. The prosecution is currently confirming the facts.
The purchases were made several times from January to the end of March last year.
Mr. Myeong’s acquaintance is reported to have denied speculation allegations, claiming that the land was purchased as a joint investment for a second-home development project.