[Anchor]
Now, let us examine the claims made by Genencell CEO Kang one by one. Kang has claimed that he never made lobbying requests to nominee Kim Seung-won and that there were no problems during the clinical trial approval process for the COVID-19 treatment. However, the prosecutors' indictment, the court ruling, and transcripts from the time contain conflicting accounts.
Reporting by Kim Deok-hyeon.
[Reporter]
In December 2024, the first-instance court found Genencell CEO Kang guilty of some charges and sentenced him to three years in prison suspended for five years.
The court determined that Kang obstructed official procedures leading to the approval of the new drug's clinical trial plan through fraudulent means, namely by using fabricated data.
When securing related patent decisions, he fabricated false documents as if hamster experiments had been conducted even though they had not, and during the approval process, he submitted false reports omitting suspected adverse reaction cases, such as the death of hamsters administered the treatment substance, according to the court's judgment.
Although Kang has argued that there were no issues in the experiments and approval application process related to the clinical trials, the first-instance court's judgment was different.
Furthermore, the remark made by nominee for Minister of Justice Kim Seung-won to the then-Minister of Food and Drug Safety expressing concern over the "drain of national wealth" does not align with the first-instance court's perspective that Genencell's patent and clinical trials related to the development of the treatment were based on false data.
Kang claims he has never met nominee Kim and that it was a normal petition procedure.
[CEO Kang / Genencell: I have no relation whatsoever with lawmaker Kim Seung-won. I detest lobbying requests and such, and I have never done anything of the sort. I have never met him nor have I ever spoken to him directly on the phone.]
However, the prosecutors' indictment states that Kang repeatedly proposed to businessman Yang that if Yang helped secure the approval of the clinical trial plan through political connections, Kang would provide financial assistance.
[Businessman Yang - Acquaintance Phone Call (November 26, 2021): Professor (Kang) said via KakaoTalk, "Please hurry the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety matter a bit," and also told me to "push it again," and that is even on KakaoTalk....]
Prosecutors also uncovered circumstances indicating that following the approval by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Kang attempted to wire 5 million won to nominee Kim's political donation account.
In addition, regarding the fact that the day after a contract was signed for Sejong Medical, a Kosdaq-listed company, to acquire 6.3 billion won worth of Kang's Genencell shares, Kang sent 100 million won to Yang and contacted him saying, "The stock price will rise, so buy shares," the first-instance court found Kang guilty of utilizing undisclosed information.
(Photo: Lee Chan-su | Video by So Ji-hye | Graphics by Seo Seung-hyun)
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