From left, Kim Man-bae, majority shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, lawyer Nam Wook, accountant Jeong Young-hak, and former Seongnam Development Corporation development division head Yoo Dong-gyu [Photo=Yonhap News]

Seongnam City's attempt to freeze assets to recover criminal proceeds from private developers involved in the Daejang-dong development project has been revealed to be virtually an empty shell.

Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province, announced on the 12th that it had confirmed the frozen accounts intended to recover criminal proceeds from private developers in the Daejang-dong development project and found them to be "empty accounts" with balances far below the claimed amounts. The city urged the prosecution to share a list of the Daejang-dong group's actual assets and their financial flow data.

In December of last year, Seongnam City completed applications for and approvals of provisional attachments and injunctions totaling 557.9 billion won (14 cases) based on the prosecution's "order for seizure and preservation" to recover the criminal proceeds of the Daejang-dong group (Kim Man-bae, Nam Wook, Jeong Young-hak, Yoo Dong-gyu).

However, the balances in the provisionally attached accounts, as determined through financial institutions, were found to be drastically insufficient compared to the claimed amounts.

Specifically, while 270 billion won was claimed from Hwacheon Daeyu (Kim Man-bae), only 70,000 won remained in the account. For The Spring, 100 billion won was claimed, but only 30,000 won was left in the account.

The total balance of the accounts confirmed by Seongnam City is approximately 470 million won, meaning there is no practical benefit to recovery even if the city wins the lawsuit.

According to data from July 2022 identified by the prosecution, 96.1% (427.7 billion won) of the criminal proceeds have disappeared, leaving only 3.9%.

Seongnam Mayor Shin Sang-jin stated, "The prosecution's avoidance of providing data has given the Daejang-dong group more time," and strongly urged proactive cooperation from the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution, including a request for the sharing of actual asset lists and financial flow data.

Reporter Lim Yo-hee