Police Share Update On Investigation Of B.I's 2016 Drug Case

After almost three months of B.I’s drug case going back and forth between police and prosecution, it has been decided that the police will conduct an investigation on their own.

On September 2, Bae Yong Ju, the Commissioner General of the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency announced, “We have decided that the police will investigate [the drug allegations against B.I.].”

The drug suspicions regarding B.I were first raised by Dispatch on June 12, when the media outlet reported that the artist allegedly attempted to purchase drugs in 2016. Afterwards, B.I released a personal statement, in which he apologized for causing trouble and announced his departure from both iKON and YG Entertainment.

Later, KBS reported that both the police and prosecution failed to carry out a proper investigation into drug-related suspicions about B.I in 2016 and that Yang Hyun Suk attempted to influence the testimony of key informant “A” about B.I at the time.

KBS confirmed in their second report that while the police filed a separate investigative report on the drug allegations against B.I when forwarding the case to the prosecutor’s office, it was the prosecution that took no further action into the matter. The prosecution later explained that the case was not processed further because at the time, the police only forwarded the case about “A” and during the prosecution’s questioning for “A,” B.I was not mentioned.

Informant “A” also reported to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission about suspicions of YG Entertainment’s corrupt ties to the police. “A” in addition said Yang Hyun Suk had threatened them to change their initial statements regarding B.I.

Afterwards, the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency revealed that they formed an exclusive team that will be in charge of investigating all suspicions that have been raised from B.I’s alleged attempts to purchase and use drugs.

While the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency had initially wanted to conduct an investigation on their own, things became more complicated as the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission and “A” asked the prosecution to look into the suspicions of YG’s ties to the police.

The Seoul Central District Court, to which the whistleblower case was forwarded, did not have any jurisdiction to direct the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency’s investigation about B.I’s case due to their offices being in different districts, but the Court also could not ignore the pleas of “A” that they did not wish the police to investigate the case due to suspicions of their ties to YG Entertainment.

As a result, the Seoul Central District Court had to hold on to the case for over two months before officially beginning the investigation.

Two and a half months later, the police has confirmed that the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency will be conducting their own investigation about B.I’s drug suspicions. Commissioner General Bae Yong Ju said on September 2, “It was internally decided that the police will investigate the suspicions on their own.”

Regarding the plead of “A,” who did not wish for the police to investigate the case, Bae Yong Ju said, “We are currently trying to convince [‘A’].” He continued, “Because the lawyer [of ‘A’] has somewhat been convinced, we expect [‘A’] to also agree to police carrying out the investigation.”

Bae Yong Ju also explained that this does not mean that the case will be transferred from the Seoul Central District Court to the Suwon District Court, which is the court that is in the same district as the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency. This means that while Bae Yong Ju requested the Seoul Central District Court to hand over the right to investigate the case to the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency, the prosecution did not approve the request, but they allowed the police to open up their own investigation.

A source from the Seoul Central District Court confirmed that the whistleblower case that was forwarded from the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission will continued to be investigated by the Court.

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