The drug scandal involving former iKON leader B.I may soon come to a close after prosecutors released information that there is not enough evidence to charge the former YG artist for his attempt to purchase drugs in 2016.
According to a report by All Kop, Lee Soo Kwon, the second deputy director of Suwon's District Prosecutor's Office, issued a statement to reporters who asked about the progress of the investigation on former iKON leader B.I, whose real name is Kim Hanbin.
On the issue of prosecuting the Kpop idol for the leaked messages linking him to an attempt to purchase drugs from a supplier known as "A", Deputy Director Lee said that the prosecution did not attempt to pursue the charges in 2016 when the whistleblower 'A', who was later identified as Han Seo Hee, filed the report because the police questioning yielded unclear results and B.I's name was not mentioned in the interview.
"At the time, the police only forwarded the case about 'A' (Han Seo Hee), who exchanged KakaoTalk messages with B.I suggesting the purchase of drugs. B.I was not a target of the investigation. The prosecution questioned 'A' once, but the questioning did not proceed smoothly because she kept crying. B.I was not mentioned during questioning," Deputy Prosecutor Lee told reporters.
Apart from this, he acknowledged that the Prosecutor's Office did receive a two-page internal investigation report which included B.I's name from the police. However, the prosecution refrained from making any move to give way for police to conduct their investigation. In the police's earlier statement, they said that Han Seo Hee testified that she did not deliver drugs to the former iKON leader and this rendered the investigation invalid.
A lawyer specializing in drug charges earlier appeared in a segment for Section TV to act as a resource speaker on the topic of B.I's drug scandal and said that he found the case strange and hard to prosecute because there was no evidence directly linking the idol to drug use and distribution, a report said.
According to the lawyer, the only evidence that connected B.I to the drug scandal was the Kakao Talk conversation with the supplier inquiring about the acquisition of drugs. While Korean Law is strict when it comes to substance use and distribution, the former YG artist has no direct links to it.
B.I, who released his statement on the expose that revealed his Kakao Talk conversation with a drug supplier in 2016 inquiring about the purchase of marijuana and LSD, apologized to fans. He also said sorry to other iKON members for his error in judgment and weakness at a difficult time before announcing his departure from the group and the termination of his exclusive contract with YG Entertainment.
