Former Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office chief Lee Chang-su arrives at the Second Comprehensive Special Prosecutor's Office in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on June 15 to be questioned as a suspect on charges including falsification of official documents in connection with allegations that the Deutsch Motors share-price manipulation investigation was improperly shelved. [Yonhap]
Former Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office chief Lee Chang-su arrives at the Second Comprehensive Special Prosecutor's Office in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on June 15 to be questioned as a suspect on charges including falsification of official documents in connection with allegations that the Deutsch Motors share-price manipulation investigation was improperly shelved. [Yonhap]

A special prosecutor's team investigating unresolved allegations following three earlier special counsel probes — into insurrection, first lady Kim Keon Hee, and the Marine Corps death case — indicted five current and former prosecutors Thursday, including former Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office chief Lee Chang-su, on charges that they fabricated investigative conclusions through improper means to secure a non-indictment ruling for Kim in the Deutsch Motors share-price manipulation case.

The team, led by Special Prosecutor Kwon Chang-young, announced Thursday that it had indicted Lee and two other former prosecutors from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office — former Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 chief Choi Jae-hun and former deputy chief of the same division Seo Min-seok — without detention on charges of falsifying and using falsified official documents.

The team also applied charges under the Anti-Graft Act to Lee, Choi Jae-hun and former Gongju Branch Prosecutor Kim Min-gu. Choi Jae-hun and a second prosecutor identified only by the surname Choi face additional charges of abuse of authority and dereliction of duty.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office's Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 had investigated the Deutsch Motors share-price manipulation case during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration in 2024 and closed it without charges. Prosecutors concluded there was insufficient evidence that Kim had knowingly entrusted account management or directly traded shares while aware of or foreseeing the market manipulation.

The decision drew criticism that prosecutors had failed to conduct a proper investigation into Kim. The probe also sparked what became known as the "VIP treatment" controversy, after it emerged that investigators had traveled to a presidential security service facility to question Kim in a closed-door, off-site session.

The special prosecutor's team concluded that the original investigative team had fabricated its findings through improper means to reach a non-indictment outcome for Kim. According to the team, Lee, Choi Jae-hun, Seo and the second Choi are accused of falsely backdating a comprehensive investigative results report that was written after Kim's non-indictment ruling had already been issued.

Choi Jae-hun, who served as the lead prosecutor, faces charges of assigning work unrelated to an acting-duty order and of carrying out duties after receiving an improper request from Kim's defense attorney to review the content of Kim's written questionnaire responses. Lee is accused of aiding and abetting conduct related to the review of those responses.

The team said Kim Min-gu is accused of performing duties after receiving an improper request to participate in Kim's off-site questioning without a formal acting-duty order. The second Choi faces charges of having a criminal investigator affix a seal to a falsified report as though the investigator had authored it.

The indictment also alleges that Choi Jae-hun and the second Choi each attempted to register criminal justice information — in the form of investigative reports — in the criminal justice information system after the non-indictment ruling had already been issued, but failed to complete the registration.


bell@heraldcorp.com