The prosecution has dropped criminal accusations filed against ruling Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung and his aide that they forced a former head of Seongnam Development Corporation to resign in connection to a suspicious land development project. 

According to the legal community on Thursday, Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office cleared Lee and Jung Jin-sang, a senior member of Lee’s election committee, of related suspicions. 

Lee, then Seongnam Mayor, and Jung, then Lee’s secretary, had been accused of colluding with Yoo Han-gi, a former senior official at Seongnam Development Corporation, in coercing Hwang Moo-sung, the inaugural president of the municipal company, to step down in 2015. 

The prosecution said they found no evidence corroborating the claims in testimonies, recordings and documents, adding Hwang was found to have drafted and submitted his resignation letter on his own. 

Others suspected of playing a role in the allegedly coerced resignation, including Yoo Dong-gyu, Hwang’s successor who served as an acting president of Seongnam Development Corporation, have also been cleared of similar suspicion.  

Yoo was indicted for colluding with large shareholders of asset management firm, Hwacheon Daeyu, so they would reap massive profits from a land development project in Daejang-dong, Seongnam. 

Meanwhile, the prosecution ended its investigation into suspicions surrounding Yoo Han-gi, who was earlier found dead in an apparent suicide after being questioned over the Daejang-dong development project.