Ex-first lady's brother attends arrest warrant hearing over alleged evasion of development fees
Kim Jin-woo, the elder brother of former first lady Kim Keon Hee, appears at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul to attend a hearing on his potential arrest over his alleged evasion of development fees for an apartment construction project, Wednesday. Yonhap
The elder brother of former first lady Kim Keon Hee attended a court hearing Wednesday on whether to issue a warrant to arrest him over his alleged evasion of development fees for an apartment construction project a decade ago.
Kim Jin-woo appeared at the Seoul Central District Court after special counsel Min Joong-ki's team filed for a warrant to arrest him on charges of causing losses to state coffers, embezzlement and destruction of evidence.
Kim and his mother, Choi Eun-soon, are accused of falsifying documents for the 350-unit apartment project in Yangpyeong, east of Seoul, conducted from 2011 to 2016, to underreport their profits and reduce the development fees they owed.
The mother and son led the developer, ESI&D, in turns.
In addition, Kim is accused of hiding various expensive items his sister, the former first lady, allegedly received as bribes at his family's home.
The special counsel team earlier decided to investigate Choi without physical detention in consideration of her level of involvement in the alleged crimes and her relationship to Kim.
Both suspects were questioned by the team on two occasions earlier this month and reportedly denied most of the allegations.
The court is expected to decide whether to issue the arrest warrant as early as later in the day.