Lee Manhee indicted and update on the investigation - Yonhap
Lee Man-hee's arrest..."Hide religious activities for fear of disadvantages"
2020.08.14 Reporter Choi Jong-ho
During the six-month investigation four people, including Lee Man-hee, were arrested and 15 indicted without detention.
Systematic attempt to destroy evidence, such as adulterating church information, by mobilizing server experts.
During the six-month investigation the prosecution indicted the chairman Lee and other key Shincheonji executives, 19 people in total.
On the 14th, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office (chief prosecutor Park Seung-dae) arrested and indicted Lee on charges of violating the Act on the Prevention of Infectious Diseases, obstructing the execution of official duties, violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, and obstruction of business.
In addition, 11 key executives, including A (44-year-old) chief of the Shincheonji Information Technology Department, were handed over to trial on the same charges.
Chairman Lee was arrested on the 1st on charges of colluding with Sincheonji executives to report an incomplete list of church members and venues to the prevention authorities last February, when the Corona 19 was spreading around Sincheonji.
He was found to have omitted eight church members and ordered the submission to the quarantine authorities of a list where the birth date of 24 church members was fabricated, refused to submit information on 100,000 resident registration numbers, and ordered the submission of false date of birth of 50,000 people.
As for the list of meeting venues and facilities, 757 Shincheonji facilities, including 358 camouflage facilities, were omitted.
Regarding the reason for such an interference with preventive activities, Lee's side said, "There were people who did not want to disclose their affiliation with the church, and in the case of special jobs such as civil servants, they could be disadvantaged if they are known to be members of the church."
In addition, Lee is also suspected of embezzling 5.6 billion won, including 5 billion won in church funds, in the process of building the Peace Palace, a training center of Sincheonji, and holding religious events at public facilities from 2015 to last year without the approval of local governments.
Most of the 11 people indicted without detention along with Lee are executives of Sincheonji who were found to have engaged in the destruction of evidence, forgery of documents to obtain construction permits and illegal use of facilities.
When submitting the list of members of the Daegu church, they omitted 132 people, and also omitted 154 people from the list of members from other churches who attended the service in Daegu.
One of them, A, the head of the Information Technology Department, is suspected of mobilizing server experts among the church members in order to manipulate the attendance information of the members of the Wuhan church, China, and delete the resident registration number data.
Shincheonji's side told the prosecution, "At a time when Wuhan were still considered the epicenter of Corona 19, there were concerns that if we revealed the truth about the Wuhan members' activities in Korea, it would have cause damage on many aspects ."
Prosecutors have been investigating the case following the complaint against Lee from the National Shincheonji Victims Association on Feb. 27, conducting an investigation over the reported crimes, and confirming cases of discrepancies between data submitted by Shincheonji and those secured by the prevention authorities.
Last month, three people, including the general secretary of the Gwacheon General Assembly headquarters, were arrested and four were indicted without physical detention on charges of intentionally omitting data and destroying evidence in preparation for the investigation.
As 12 more people, including Lee, were indicted on the same day, the total number of people put on trial is 19.
Meanwhile, Lee asked the court to re-examine his arrest, asking to determine whether the arrest was appropriate, but his request was rejected yesterday and he was put on trial under arrest.
The court explained the reason for the rejection, saying, "Based on the results of the questioning and what appeares in the documents, considering the justification of the crime, the progress of the investigation, and the health condition, the request appeares unjustified, it was confirmed that the issuance of the arrest warrant was appropriate and the necessity of the arrest was recognized."
Original article: http://naver.me/GT7H0H0y
Disclaimer! I am neither a native korean speaker nor a professional translator and all the English subtitles and translations are by no means official. They are just part of my personal research on SCJ that I want to share with you.
