Special Prosecutor's Team Pursues Key Suspects Ahead of Kim Geon-hee's Summons

The special prosecutor's team, led by Moon Hong-joo, is actively tracking down key suspects linked to various allegations involving Kim Geon-hee, the wife of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, as her summons approaches. On July 23, legal sources reported that the team is focusing on Lee Gi-hoon, the vice chairman of Samboo Construction, who has gone missing after failing to appear for a court hearing on July 17. The special prosecutor's office suspects that Lee played a crucial role in a stock manipulation scheme related to the acquisition of shares from former chairman Cho Sung-ok, which involved borrowing hundreds of billions of won since May 2022. They believe he may have orchestrated the stock manipulation to recover losses incurred during this acquisition, potentially involving Lee Jong-ho, a former representative of Black Pearl Investment and an associate of Kim Geon-hee.

Additionally, a key figure in the 'IMS Mobility preferential investment' allegations, identified only as Kim, has reportedly fled to Vietnam before the investigation began in April and has not returned. Known to be close to Kim Geon-hee, this individual profited from selling shares during IMS Mobility's investment round, which raised 18.4 billion won from major corporations. The special prosecutor's team is investigating whether these companies invested in Kim's firm to curry favor with Kim Geon-hee. Recently, they obtained an arrest warrant for Kim and have issued a red notice for his capture.

The team is also looking into the circumstances surrounding a civilian named Shin, who accompanied the former presidential couple during the NATO summit in June 2022 and returned on the presidential plane. Shin is the wife of Lee Won-mo, who was the personnel secretary at the time. Furthermore, the special prosecutor's office has summoned Jo Yeon-kyung, a former administrative officer, to investigate the ownership of a luxury necklace worth around 60 million won that Kim Geon-hee wore during the NATO visit. They also questioned Jo Eun-hee, a member of the National Assembly from the People Power Party, regarding allegations of her involvement in the party's nomination process for a by-election in March 2022.

In the meantime, Kim Geon-hee's legal team has requested that the special prosecutor's office conduct the investigation over several days due to her health issues, as she has been summoned for questioning on August 6. However, the special prosecutor's office has stated that discussions regarding the investigation schedule are unnecessary and that they expect her to appear on the scheduled date.