Shincheonji leader Man-hee Lee has been indicted on charges of evading 7.5 billion won in taxes by operating convenience stores at local churches under the names of believers and manipulating sales figures. Lee's side argued that there was no intentional collusion and that some cash sales were simply omitted during the store integration process. The Seoul Central District Court postponed the first hearing to December 16th due to the large volume of case records. This case followed a tax investigation by the Seoul Regional Tax Office and a non-prosecution decision by the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, with the Joint Investigation Team for Complex Collusion eventually filing charges. Separately, Lee is also facing trial on charges of forcibly enrolling Shincheonji believers as members of the People Power Party.
