South Korean prosecutors apply to the Bar Association to discipline both Lee Jae-myung and Democratic Party representative

South Korean prosecutors have applied for disciplinary action from the Korean Bar Association against Lee Jae-myung, a representative of the Democratic Party (opposition), who was indicted on suspicion of corruption in the Daejang-dong development.
According to the legal community on the 15th, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office applied to the Bar Association on the 14th of last month to begin disciplinary proceedings against Lee. Prosecutors are investigating violations of the Public Offices Election Act, breach of trust and specified crimes under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specified Economic Crimes.
Representative Lee, who was indicted on charges such as bribery of a third party and abetting perjury under the Aggravated Punishment Act, is said to have applied for disciplinary action because he believed that he had degraded his reputation as a lawyer.
The current Lawyers Act provides for cases in which the chief prosecutor of a district public prosecutor's office discovers that a lawyer has grounds for disciplinary action during the course of carrying out work, such as a criminal investigation.
In such cases, an application must be made to the Chairman of the Bench Council for disciplinary action. Representative Lee is currently on leave from his practice as a lawyer due to the principle of prohibiting concurrent employment as a lawyer, but the Benkyo will take disciplinary proceedings regardless of this.
be able to. The level of discipline will be determined from among the following: reprimand, imposition of a fine, suspension, expulsion, and permanent expulsion. However, even if disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against Representative Lee, the disciplinary case deliberation by the Benken Association Disciplinary Committee will be delayed.
It is expected that the trial will be suspended until the final outcome of the trial is released. Representative Lee has been brought to trial in five cases in total four times since the Yun Seo-gyul government took office. Prosecutors are investigating the consequences of the recent presidential election.
Lee was placed in detention without indictment in September 2022 on suspicion of making false statements during the ceremony, and in March last year he was put on trial for suspicions of Daejo-dong development fraud and Seongnam FC sponsorship money.
In October last year, he was indicted without detention on suspicion of preferential treatment for the development of BAEKHYUN-dong and on suspicion of inciting perjury.