Lee Hwa-young, the former Deputy Governor of Gyeonggi Province, who is on trial in the Supreme Court for the 'SSANGBANGWOOL Group illegal remittance to North Korea case,' recently requested bail, it was reported on the 2nd. Earlier, Lee was sentenced to 9 years and 6 months in prison in the first trial and 7 years and 8 months in the second trial. Additionally, Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, has also been indicted as an accomplice in this case and is undergoing a first trial.
According to legal sources, Lee submitted his bail application to the second division of the Supreme Court (Chief Justice Park Young-jae) on the 29th of last month. A date for the hearing has not yet been set.
Lee was arrested in September 2022 in connection with the illegal remittance to North Korea case and was indicted in October of the same year. He is accused of having SSANGBANGWOOL cover a total of $8 million, including $5 million for Gyeonggi Province's North Korean project (smart farm) from January 2019 to January 2020, and $3 million for Lee Jae-myung's visit to North Korea while he was the governor of Gyeonggi Province.
In addition, he is also facing charges of receiving illegal political funds of over 334 million won by receiving corporate cards and corporate vehicles from former SSANGBANGWOOL Group Chairman Kim Sung-tae and by having false salaries paid to his associates. Of this amount, over 259 million won is subject to bribery charges.
The first trial recognized Lee's charges of bribery and illegal export of foreign currency, sentencing him in June of last year to 9 years and 6 months in prison, a fine of 250 million won, and a confiscation of 325.95 million won.
The second trial reached the same conclusion regarding the guilt or innocence of the charges as the first trial, but reduced the sentence to 7 years and 8 months.
The Supreme Court renewed Lee's detention period twice in February and April. In the appeal trial, the detention period can be renewed up to three times in two-month increments.
Lee had applied for bail during both the first and second trial, but each request was denied by the court.