A Suwon court has again decided to extend by six months the detention period of former Gyeonggi Province vice governor Lee Hwa-young who has been indicted for his alleged involvement in a North Korea money transfer case involving Ssangbangwool Group. 

The Suwon District Court on Friday issued an additional pretrial detention warrant for Lee, citing a flight risk and the possibility of evidence tampering. Lee’s current warrant is set to expire at midnight Friday. 

Lee was first indicted last October for allegedly pocketing some 300 million won in bribes and political funds by using the corporate credit cards of Ssangbangwool. An additional pretrial detention warrant was issued for him earlier in April for his alleged involvement in the transfer of some eight million dollars to the North by former Ssangbangwool chair, Kim Seong-tae in 2019. 

Prosecutors had filed for a pretrial detention warrant for the third time for Lee, this time on suspicions of abetting the destruction of evidence. 

Prosecutors believe that Lee asked the former Ssangbangwool chair to get rid of related materials on two occasions when one media outlet began covering a story in 2021 about the allegations that Lee used Ssangbangwool’s corporate credit cards for personal use.