Lawmaker given 2-yr prison term in cash-for-votes scandal involving DP

A Seoul court sentenced independent lawmaker Youn Kwan-suk to two years in prison on Wednesday, finding him guilty of involvement in a cash-for-votes scandal surrounding the main opposition party’s 2021 leadership election.

The scandal centers on allegations that the campaign of former Democratic Party (DP) leader Song Young-gil distributed cash envelopes totaling 66 million won (US$49,412) to 20 sitting DP lawmakers and other party members in the run-up to the party’s leadership election in May 2021, which he ultimately won.

Youn, who worked for Song’s campaign, was accused of handing out 20 cash envelopes, each containing 3 million won, to DP lawmakers shortly before the election.

The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday delivered a two-year prison sentence to Youn and a one-year and eight-month prison term for Kang Rae-gu, a former standing auditor of Korea Water Resources Corp., who was charged with working between Youn and a former aide of Song to facilitate the money distribution.

“The blame for the accused’s crimes is very heavy given that they gravely harmed the public’s trust in the political party-based democracy,” the court said.

Youn left the DP in May last year after the scandal surfaced, and had been standing trial under arrest.

Earlier this month, prosecutors also indicted Song under physical detention on charges of sourcing the alleged election payments through illegal political funds from businesspeople and via his private support group, the Research Institute for Peace and Livelihood.

Prosecutors are also widening their investigation to identify sitting lawmaker recipients of the 20 alleged cash envelopes.

Wednesday’s guilty sentence, the first court ruling in the far-reaching election scandal, is likely to set the tone for future trials involving Song and others implicated in the scandal, including Rep. Lee Sung-man, who also worked for Song’s campaign.

The first court hearing on Song’s case is slated for Friday.