Baek Hae-ryong Files Complaint Against Seoul Eastern District Prosecutor's Office Chief Im Eun-jung Over Customs Drug Probe

Senior Superintendent Baek Hae-ryong, who has raised allegations of external pressure on a drug investigation, has filed a complaint with the police against Seoul Eastern District Chief Prosecutor Im Eun-jung, with whom he previously served in a joint investigation team.

Representatives for Senior Superintendent Baek stated that they submitted a complaint to the National Police Agency's National Office of Investigation this morning, requesting that Chief Prosecutor Im be penalized for abuse of authority and defamation by stating false facts.

Senior Superintendent Baek joined the customs drug joint investigation team established at the Eastern District Prosecutor's Office in October of last year, but left the team after three months, protesting that Chief Prosecutor Im and other superiors failed to grant him effective authority.

Senior Superintendent Baek claimed that President Lee Jae-myung had instructed cooperation between him and the existing joint investigation team, but that the Eastern District Prosecutor's Office, including Chief Prosecutor Im, did not place his investigation team in the organizational chart, making compulsory investigations such as search and seizure impossible.

He also wrote in the complaint that investigative data from the joint investigation team was not shared, and that Chief Prosecutor Im's operation of the team amounted to an arbitrary abuse of command authority to exclude him.

Senior Superintendent Baek further argued that Chief Prosecutor Im's Eastern District Prosecutor's Office damaged his reputation by announcing the results of the investigation into the alleged external pressure on the customs drug probe under the premise that the allegations had no substance.

The Eastern District Prosecutor's Office joint investigation team announced last February that all allegations raised by Senior Superintendent Baek Hae-ryong were entirely groundless.

At the same time, it issued strong criticisms, claiming that Senior Superintendent Baek had steered the investigation in a direction contrary to the substantive truth.

Meanwhile, Senior Superintendent Baek's legal representative, lawyer Lee Chang-min, released a statement today regarding the National Police Agency's inspection of Senior Superintendent Baek, stating, "We are not refusing the inspection. However, for an inspection to take place, the preceding facts that serve as its premise must be investigated together."

The police are currently conducting an inspection following a request from the prosecution that Senior Superintendent Baek unauthorizedly leaked investigative records and disciplinary action is necessary.

However, it was reported that Senior Superintendent Baek has been refusing the police's summons to appear for inspection questioning.

(File Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.