Canadian extradition fight of Jung Myung-soo, he is wanted in a multimillion-dollar fraud case dating back 16 years
A media spotlight has been trained on Meng Wanzhou’s fight
in Vancouver to avoid a US trial for more than two years, but another
international extradition battle involving a once high-profile business figure
has been quietly playing out in the same court for even longer.
The South China Morning Post has learned that Jung
Myung-soo, a former real estate tycoon behind what was one of Metro Vancouver’s
biggest property developments, is wanted by his native South Korea to face
multimillion-dollar allegations of fraud.
But unlike the extradition fight of Huawei Technologies
executive Meng, which has drawn attention worldwide, Jung’s battle has until
now gone unreported.
His case demonstrates the potential marathon nature of such
proceedings, with South Korean prosecutors pursuing Jung in Canada since 2011,
as a result of alleged offences dating back another six years.
In 2005, Jung’s Central City development, involving five
skyscrapers and 1,400 residential units, was hailed as a transformative project
for the Vancouver satellite of Surrey by that city’s mayor, Doug McCallum.
But Jung Developments, of which Jung was CEO, filed for
bankruptcy protection in 2008, in the wake of turmoil on Wall Street; the
project was eventually taken over by Concord Pacific and was completed under a
rebranding as Park Place.
Legal documents related to South Korea’s pursuit of Jung are
not on public view and can be viewed only by counsel involved in the case,
staff at the Supreme Court of British Columbia registry in Vancouver said.
But details of the allegations against Jung were described
in a committal hearing that took place in the Supreme Court on June 28; the
Post listened to a recording of the proceedings.
South Korea’s Ministry of Justice accuses Jung of defrauding
two investors, including one surnamed Gwan who is said to have invested more
than C$6 million (US$4.8 million) in Central City in 2005; Jung is said to have
misrepresented his personal wealth, the success of the project and how he was
spending the money. He is accused of fleeing to Canada in 2011 amid legal
proceedings in Seoul.
Jung’s lawyers are not challenging his committal in
entirety. Instead, they say he should only be surrendered on the Gwan
accusations, claiming that the request to have Jung surrendered for prosecution
on the others, involving his dealings with a man surnamed Kim in 2007, is
improper – because Jung had already gone on trial in Korea for the Kim matter
and was actually wanted for sentencing.
“He’s not going to get a trial at the end of this process on
this count,” Jung’s lawyer Tony Paisana told Justice David Crossin at the
committal hearing. “He’s going to get a sentencing hearing. We can’t quibble
over form and ignore the substance.”
Ryan Dowadharry, a Canadian government lawyer representing
South Korean interests in the extradition case, told the hearing that the
prosecution of Jung in Korea was still pending.
“There’s no evidence before your lordship that he was
sentenced, that he was convicted or that the proceedings have concluded,” said
Dowadharry.
Reading from the record of the case – a summary provided to
the Canadian court by South Korean authorities – Dowadharry said “a judgment
could not be rendered [in the Kim matter] as the trial proceedings came to a
halt when the suspect fled the country”.
He added: “There were confessions and written statements by
Mr Jung to the victims, one of which was an admission at trial … Mr Jung
confessed the facts of his crime, that he defrauded Mr J. Kim.”
South Korean authorities issued their first Jung case record
to Canada in August 2011. But the Canadian warrant for Jung’s arrest was not
issued until November 2017, Dowadharry said.
South Korean developer Jung Myung-soo is seen at the
unveiling of his plans for the Central City project in Surrey, British
Columbia, in 2005, with Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum. At the time it was to be
the biggest residential and retail development in Surrey's history. Photo:
Material republished with the express permission of Vancouver Province, a
division of Postmedia Network IncSouth Korean developer Jung Myung-soo is seen
at the unveiling of his plans for the Central City project in Surrey, British
Columbia, in 2005, with Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum. At the time it was to be
the biggest residential and retail development in Surrey's history. Photo:
Material republished with the express permission of Vancouver Province, a
division of Postmedia Network Inc
South Korean developer Jung Myung-soo is seen at the
unveiling of his plans for the Central City project in Surrey, British
Columbia, in 2005, with Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum. At the time it was to be
the biggest residential and retail development in Surrey's history. Photo:
Material republished with the express permission of Vancouver Province, a
division of Postmedia Network Inc
A media spotlight has been trained on Meng Wanzhou’s fight
in Vancouver to avoid a US trial for more than two years, but another
international extradition battle involving a once high-profile business figure
has been quietly playing out in the same court for even longer.
The South China Morning Post has learned that Jung
Myung-soo, a former real estate tycoon behind what was one of Metro Vancouver’s
biggest property developments, is wanted by his native South Korea to face
multimillion-dollar allegations of fraud.
But unlike the extradition fight of Huawei Technologies
executive Meng, which has drawn attention worldwide, Jung’s battle has until
now gone unreported.
His case demonstrates the potential marathon nature of such
proceedings, with South Korean prosecutors pursuing Jung in Canada since 2011,
as a result of alleged offences dating back another six years.
The Park Place development is seen in Surrey, British
Columbia. The project, formerly known as Central City, was taken over by BC
developer Concord Pacific after Jung Developments sought bankruptcy protection
in 2008. Photo: Ian Young
The Park Place development is seen in Surrey, British
Columbia. The project, formerly known as Central City, was taken over by BC
developer Concord Pacific after Jung Developments sought bankruptcy protection
in 2008. Photo: Ian Young
In 2005, Jung’s Central City development, involving five
skyscrapers and 1,400 residential units, was hailed as a transformative project
for the Vancouver satellite of Surrey by that city’s mayor, Doug McCallum.
But Jung Developments, of which Jung was CEO, filed for
bankruptcy protection in 2008, in the wake of turmoil on Wall Street; the
project was eventually taken over by Concord Pacific and was completed under a
rebranding as Park Place.
Legal documents related to South Korea’s pursuit of Jung are
not on public view and can be viewed only by counsel involved in the case,
staff at the Supreme Court of British Columbia registry in Vancouver said.
If the end result is they don’t get to sentence him on
something that they would have liked to, well, frankly, too bad
Jung Myung-soo’s lawyer Tony Paisana
But details of the allegations against Jung were described
in a committal hearing that took place in the Supreme Court on June 28; the
Post listened to a recording of the proceedings.
South Korea’s Ministry of Justice accuses Jung of defrauding
two investors, including one surnamed Gwan who is said to have invested more
than C$6 million (US$4.8 million) in Central City in 2005; Jung is said to have
misrepresented his personal wealth, the success of the project and how he was
spending the money. He is accused of fleeing to Canada in 2011 amid legal
proceedings in Seoul.
Jung’s lawyers are not challenging his committal in
entirety. Instead, they say he should only be surrendered on the Gwan
accusations, claiming that the request to have Jung surrendered for prosecution
on the others, involving his dealings with a man surnamed Kim in 2007, is
improper – because Jung had already gone on trial in Korea for the Kim matter
and was actually wanted for sentencing.
“He’s not going to get a trial at the end of this process on
this count,” Jung’s lawyer Tony Paisana told Justice David Crossin at the
committal hearing. “He’s going to get a sentencing hearing. We can’t quibble
over form and ignore the substance.”
Ryan Dowadharry, a Canadian government lawyer representing
South Korean interests in the extradition case, told the hearing that the
prosecution of Jung in Korea was still pending.
“There’s no evidence before your lordship that he was
sentenced, that he was convicted or that the proceedings have concluded,” said
Dowadharry.
Reading from the record of the case – a summary provided to
the Canadian court by South Korean authorities – Dowadharry said “a judgment
could not be rendered [in the Kim matter] as the trial proceedings came to a
halt when the suspect fled the country”.
He added: “There were confessions and written statements by
Mr Jung to the victims, one of which was an admission at trial … Mr Jung
confessed the facts of his crime, that he defrauded Mr J. Kim.”
South Korean authorities issued their first Jung case record
to Canada in August 2011. But the Canadian warrant for Jung’s arrest was not
issued until November 2017, Dowadharry said.
If Crossin decides to commit Jung for extradition, the
matter will go to Canada’s justice minister to write a surrender order. Paisana
urged Crossin to state in his reasons for committal that it was for the Gwan
allegations only, which he hoped would represent “valuable information” for
later stages of the process.
“If your lordship accedes to our submission, as does the
minister in support, he will only be surrendered under the 2005 offence with
the implied conditions … that he not be sentenced for the 2007 offence,” said
Paisana.
“And that’s a significant point for Mr Jung. And some might
think that’s a windfall, or what have you. But it is on the requesting state
and the attorney general of Canada to seek the proper route if what they are
seeking is, in fact, the imposition of sentence which I say is clearly the case
here.
“If the end result is they don’t get to sentence him on
something that they would have liked to, well, frankly, too bad.”
Paisana is also one of the lawyers representing Meng in her
extradition case, in which hearings are scheduled to resume on August 3. And
one of the Canadian Department of Justice lawyers involved in the Jung case,
Diba Majzub, is also on the government team representing US interests opposing
Meng.
Jung was a seen as a key figure in the development of Surrey
in the mid-2000s via his Central City project; at the time it was described as
the biggest residential and retail project in Surrey’s history.
“You won’t recognise it in a year’s time,” Mayor McCallum
said of the seven-acre (2.8 hectare) Central City site when he helped open the
project’s sales office in 2005, according to The Vancouver Sun.
Comments
Post a Comment