Former Daegu Mayor Hong Jun-pyo arrives at the Daegu District Court on Tuesday morning. Hong appeared in his capacity as defense lawyer for an acquaintance facing an arrest warrant over allegations of paying polling fees on behalf of Myung Tae-gyun. [Yonhap]
Former Daegu Mayor Hong Jun-pyo arrives at the Daegu District Court on Tuesday morning. Hong appeared in his capacity as defense lawyer for an acquaintance facing an arrest warrant over allegations of paying polling fees on behalf of Myung Tae-gyun. [Yonhap]

Former Daegu Mayor Hong Jun-pyo, who left politics last year, appeared in court Tuesday as defense lawyer for two close associates facing arrest warrants on charges of illegally spending political funds.

Hong attended a pretrial detention hearing at the Daegu District Court around 10:30 a.m. for Park, the head of an election services firm, and Kim, the chief accountant of Hong's campaign. It marked his first public appearance in roughly a year and a half since he stepped back from the political front line after losing the People Power Party presidential primary.

The hearing ran from 10:45 a.m. to 12:28 p.m., lasting about one hour and 40 minutes.

Hong argued that campaign expenditures the police had characterized as fictitious transactions were in fact real. Speaking to reporters immediately after the hearing, he said "all five or six items the police flagged as fictitious transactions were actual transactions," adding that he had submitted supporting evidence to the court, including transaction records and National Assembly policy documents.

Hong sharply criticized the police investigation, saying the arrest warrant application was based on a reconstruction of events drawn from KakaoTalk messages exchanged by campaign volunteers. "The investigation is sloppy and incomplete," he said, adding that police had "fabricated a case against my staff."

He also expressed frustration that his son had come under investigation, saying, "There is no point in indicting even someone who has retired from politics."

On allegations that polling fees were paid on his behalf by associates connected to Myung Tae-gyun, Hong said he had met Myung only once and that Myung had tried to join his campaign team during the presidential primary but was turned away. He added that if there were any problems with him personally, investigators should summon him directly, and said he intended to continue representing his associates even if they were detained.

Asked before the hearing why he had chosen to argue the case himself, Hong said, "They're my people. They used to be my people."

Park and Kim are accused of illegally spending tens of millions of won in political funds from Hong's campaign during the 2021 People Power Party presidential primary and submitting to the National Election Commission accounting reports prepared using falsified supporting documents.

Park, a junior acquaintance of a friend of Hong's son, also faces allegations of having paid polling fees related to Hong to the Mirae Korea Research Institute, which Myung is said to have effectively operated.

Police had earlier investigated Hong, Park and two others after a civic group reported them over the polling-fee allegations, but transferred the case to a special prosecutor in July last year. After receiving the case back in March, police conducted searches and seizures of the suspects and in the process uncovered additional criminal allegations separate from the original complaint.

Police said they would determine their next steps based on the outcome of Tuesday's hearing and continue their investigation into Hong and others.


betterj@heraldcorp.com