Jeong Jin-sang, a close aide to main opposition Democratic Party(DP) Chairman Lee Jae-myung, has flatly denied allegations of bribery and corruption regarding a high-profile land development scandal.

Jeong’s lawyer revealed the position on Wednesday during the first trial at the Seoul Central District Court for the former key policy official of the Seongnam and Gyeonggi Province governments during Lee’s terms as mayor and governor, respectively.

The former head of the party chair's policy coordination office is accused of receiving 140 million won from key figures involved in the Daejang-dong development scandal, including Yoo Dong-kyu, the former acting chief of Seongnam Development Corporation, in return for business favors between 2013 and 2020 when Lee was in office.

Additional allegations include an agreement on a 24-point-five-percent stake worth 42-point-eight billion won in the development project from one of the developers, Kim Man-bae, in return for favors.

The lawyer said it was impossible for bribes to be given when Jeong worked at Seongnam City Hall as Lee’s senior policy secretary between 2013 and 2014, citing the presence of surveillance cameras with microphones in Lee’s office.

The prosecution, on its part, said the cameras are not real, an argument repeated by Yoo, who was present at Wednesday's trial and claimed that Jeong told him that the devices were fake after being asked whether he felt uneasy about having a surveillance camera in the office.