PPP slams Lee over 'fabricated indictment' special prosecutor act push during overseas trip

The People Power Party sharply criticized President Lee Jae Myung on Sunday over the so-called "fabricated indictment" special prosecutor act, which is expected to be deliberated and approved at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

The party particularly zeroed in on the fact that Prime Minister Han Seong-sook will chair the Cabinet meeting in Lee's absence, as the president has departed for the Philippines and China to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Party spokesperson Ham In-kyung said in a statement Sunday that Lee "could not bring himself to approve a special prosecutor act tied to his own case," and questioned whether the president had "delayed the Cabinet meeting by a week just to have it handled by the prime minister's hand."

Ham said the way Lee was handling the special prosecutor act was "truly cowardly and pathetic," adding that Lee had not put the bill on the agenda at the Cabinet meeting he personally chaired last week but had scheduled it for approval at a meeting to be presided over by the prime minister while he is away.

Ham then asked whether Lee was "now conscious of conflict-of-interest criticism because the bill is tied to his own case," or whether he "simply cannot bring himself to strike the gavel with his own hand and is borrowing the prime minister's instead."

Ham also said six of the 12 items under the special prosecutor's investigative scope directly involve President Lee, and that Lee appeared to be stepping back from the bill's passage process despite having created a special prosecutor act that would allow prosecutors who investigated and indicted him to be reinvestigated.

Ham urged Lee to "stop hiding behind the prime minister and instead explain directly to the public and take responsibility" for the special prosecutor act tied to his own case.

Party spokesperson Jo Yong-sul also criticized the move in a separate statement the same day, calling it "a scheme to exploit APEC to push through the fabricated indictment special prosecutor act."

Jo said there were sufficient grounds to suspect that the administration intended to "pass the special prosecutor act at a Cabinet meeting chaired by the prime minister to shield it from public scrutiny, with the president giving final promulgation approval while still abroad," and urged Lee to "stop using the overseas trip as a shield to dodge controversy and answer directly to the conflict-of-interest and unconstitutionality concerns surrounding the special prosecutor act."

Jo also criticized Justice Minister nominee Lee Yong-cheol, who has close personal ties to President Lee, for "consistently giving evasive answers and avoiding taking a position on the special prosecutor act and the withdrawal-of-indictment issue — controversies that have been dubbed the 'presidential jailbreak bill,'" and said "no one in power can place themselves above the rule of law and judicial justice."