A political finance card for Chu Mi-ae’s son after daughter? Controversy for ‘violation of the Political Fund Law’

Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae was reported to have paid political money at nearby restaurants and gas stations on the day of his son Seo-mo’s training camp completion ceremony in January 2017, when he was a party representative. , which generated suspicions of violating the Political Fund Law. Minister Chu said that it was “the name of a meeting with members of the legislators,” but that day, Minister Chu was in the army in Paju, Gyeonggi province. The possibility of ‘using a card substitute’ is also envisaged.

Earlier, Minister Chu was also pointed out that he spent millions of dollars in political funding at a restaurant run by his daughter in Itaewon. Under the Political Funds Act, if it is used for private purposes other than political spending, it can be punished with imprisonment of up to three years or with a fine of up to 6 million won. One person in the legal profession said: “Because the prosecution statute for violation of the Political Fund Act is five years, the investigation will inevitably begin once the indictment is made.”

According to the expenditure of political funds published by Congressman Soo-jin Cho on the 18th, Minister Chu paid the political funds three times on January 3, 2017 in Yeonmu-eup, Nonsan-gun, Chungnam. I paid 50,000 won at a gas station and 140,000 won (40,000 won, 100,000 won) at a steakhouse twice. Minister Chu wrote the titles as “fuel gas” and “congressional meetings.”

However, Minister Chu was in Paju, not Nonsan that day. At 12 p.m., the party leader, Minister Chu, ate together at the soldiers’ restaurant to cheer on the soldiers of the Cheonho Battalion. The suspicion arises that someone else has used the minister’s card.

That day was the day of Minister Chu’s son’s training ground completion ceremony. Seo joined the Nonsan Training Center on November 28, 2016 and reportedly completed the training on January 3, 2017. For this reason, the opposition party is raising suspicions: “Isn’t the other family who borrowed cards and spent political money for personal purposes instead of Minister Chu? “

In a questionnaire on the 17th of the National Assembly, Representative Choi Hyung-du stated that Minister Chu spent around 2.5 million won on donations at the Western-style party in Itaewon, Seoul, led by the eldest daughter 21 times since. November 2014 to August 2015, when he was a member of the National Assembly. “It is a violation of the Political Funds Act to spend donations at the daughter’s store,” she said. Most of the expenses were press conferences or policy conferences, and it was found that 30,000 to 40,000 won were spent at a time up to a maximum of 256,000 won.

Also, when Congressman Choi asked him, ‘Is it true that I ate with a reporter or someone even though the other party is not specified?’, “I think you will know because you are a legislator, but the accountant does not directly care “. did.

The legal community noted that “this is not a ‘conference of legislators’, but if you make a false report, it is a case of falsely presenting the details of income and expenditures of political funds.” One lawyer said: “If a false report is revealed, the crime of writing false official documents can also be applied.” For the preparation of false official documents, a court sentence of up to 7 years or a fine of 20 million won or less is applied.