A special counsel team led by Kwon Chang-young has widened its probe into allegations that police covered up suspected overseas gambling by senior figures of the Unification Church, moving its focus up to the top ranks of the police.
According to legal officials on April 22, the team secured a work computer previously used by Yoon Hee-geun during searches a day earlier of the National Police Agency, the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency and the Chuncheon Police Station. Yoon was the agency’s deputy commissioner general in June 2022, when police obtained the gambling tip.
The special counsel is investigating why police did not open a formal investigation despite receiving information that Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja and other senior officials gambled about 60 billion won from 2008 to 2011 at casinos in Las Vegas. Investigators have also found indications the information was leaked outside the police.
The team is looking into whether the case was effectively blunted after the information was passed to political circles. Reports said the probe is also examining alleged involvement by People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Seong-dong.
Kwon has been indicted on charges of receiving 100 million won in illegal political funds from the Unification Church. He was sentenced to two years in prison in the first trial, and an appeal is under way. In a separate case, a court partly recognized that Kwon received investigation-related information tied to the Unification Church.
Investigators are analyzing data from Yoon’s seized computer to determine whether he was involved in any effort to block the investigation. Although the search warrant reportedly did not specify a suspect, the inquiry is expanding toward senior police leadership.
The investigative scope also includes possible links to Jeon Seong-bae, known as "Geonjin Beopsa." After a text message surfaced in which Jeon referred to Yoon’s personnel matter as something "worked on in advance," the special counsel is treating it as a possible clue to motives for personnel or investigative interference.
The case was previously handled by a special counsel team known as the Kim Keon-hee special counsel (the Min Joong-ki team) before being transferred to the comprehensive special counsel. That earlier team indicted suspects on charges including instructing destruction of evidence, alleging the Unification Church received investigative information in advance and ordered deletion of accounting records. A court dismissed the indictment, saying it was not within the special counsel law’s scope.
After reviewing materials obtained from police, the comprehensive special counsel team plans to summon related figures for questioning in sequence. What began as a gambling allegation is now spreading to police and political circles, and potentially to the top of the police hierarchy.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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