Prosecutors, who are investigating allegations that money and other items such as "money bags" were distributed during last year's Democratic National Convention, said they had confirmed the circumstances under which independent Rep. Yoon Kwan-seok destroyed his mobile phone the day before the seizure and search, and his aides destroyed evidence by shredding materials such as work notebooks.

According to a request for a preliminary arrest warrant for Rep. Yoon Kwan-seok, obtained by SBS, Yoon allegedly concealed or destroyed his mobile phone and replaced it with a new one the day before the prosecution's seizure and search, and then contacted people involved, including former chief auditor of Korea Water Resources Corporation, Kang Rae-gu.

The prosecutor's office also wrote in the warrant request, "It was confirmed that Rep. Yoon's aides working in the district office also shredded related materials, such as the work notebook used during the incident, the day before the seizure and search."

The prosecution cited the circumstances of the destruction of evidence as a necessity for Rep. Yoon's detention, as well as the fact that he refused to give any statements to various questions during the subpoenaed investigation, and that he did not actually respond to the investigation, and the seriousness of the crime.

The specific circumstances under which Rep. Yoon directed, solicited, and distributed the money envelopes were also included in the warrant request.

According to the contents of the warrant, on April 24 last year, just over a week before the convention, Rep. Yoon contacted Kang and said, "Rumor has it that the rival candidate's camp is passing out envelopes of money to lawmakers, but shouldn't we also have a meeting to come up with a countermeasure?"

Three days later, on the 27th, Rep. Yoon was handed a black plastic bag containing 10 envelopes containing 3 million won in cash from former Deputy Secretary-General Lee Jung-geun near a Chinese restaurant in Yeouido, and the next day, on the 28th, in a small meeting room of the Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee in the main building of the National Assembly, he handed one envelope each to 10 lawmakers who attended the "National Assembly Meeting," including Rep. Lee Sung-man, under the pretext of "supporting Song Yong-gil and encouraging the national delegates to support him."

The prosecution also stated in the warrant request the circumstances under which Rep. Yoon demanded an additional 30 million won on the 28th.

Some of the lawmakers who tried to hand over the envelope of money to Yoon in the first place failed to give it to him because they were absent from the meeting that day, so he demanded additional funds.

Prosecutors allege that Yoon explained the situation to Kang and asked him to "walk around the hall and tell him that he needed more money to deliver cash to lawmakers."

Later, the prosecution believes that Rep. Yoon was handed 10 envelopes by former Vice Chancellor Lee at the office of the Gyeongseon camp at around 6:35 p.m. on the same day, and that the next day, on the 29th, he went around the hall and handed 10 envelopes to lawmakers and others who were not present the day before.

In response to the prosecution's request for a warrant, Rep. Yoon retorted, "The prosecution, which denied the evidentiary capacity of the transcript, which is the only evidence, and failed to find clear evidence, once again embarked on a cycle of embarrassment through detention and coerced confession."

In a statement posted on his social media, Rep. Yoon said, "Neither the warrant request nor the indictment against Kang specify who received the money," adding, "The person who gave it denies the allegations, and it is an unprecedented situation in which the person who received the warrant was requested without investigating the person who received it."

Regarding the circumstances of the destruction of evidence, he said, "The cell phone that was replaced just before the seizure and search was not used at the time of the convention," and "The prosecution is misleading public opinion as if the cell phone used at the time of the incident was kept and replaced for the purpose of destroying evidence."

The motion to arrest Rep. Yoon and Rep. Lee will be reported to the National Assembly's plenary session today (30th) and will be voted on on the 12th of next month.