Central District Prosecutors’ Office ‘Report of No Indictment’ in One Day
“Enhancing fairness through external personnel review… Tie-up to prevent further controversy”
Legal community: “Possibility of new variables”
Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok has pulled out the card of convening the Prosecution Investigation Review Committee regarding the case of President Yoon Seok-yeol’s wife Kim Kun-hee’s alleged receipt of a Dior bag. This comes just one day after he received a report from Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office Chief Lee Chang-soo, which concluded that there was “no suspicion” regarding the Dior bag case involving Kim.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office announced on the 23rd, “The Prosecutor General has referred the case of Ms. Kim Gun-hee’s violation of the Prohibition of Solicitation and Bribery Act to the Investigation Review Committee, including the legal theories of mediation and bribery and violation of the Attorney-at-Law Act, and has ordered a careful disposition after going through the deliberation process of the committee comprised entirely of external civilian members.”
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said, “The Prosecutor General received a report on the investigation results from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office and evaluated that the evidence judgment and legal interpretation were faithfully carried out,” but added, “It was decided that it was desirable to tie up the case through the investigation review committee procedure to enhance fairness and prevent further controversy, and so the case was finally disposed of after deliberation by external civilian experts.”
Earlier, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office’s Criminal Division 1 (Chief Prosecutor Kim Seung-ho) formed a special investigation team in May of this year and concluded that there was “no suspicion” regarding Ms. Kim after three months. The investigation team determined that although Mr. Choi Jae-young gave Ms. Kim a Dior bag and other items, it would be difficult to apply the charge of violating the Prohibition of Solicitation Act because there was no job-relatedness or consideration. Chief Prosecutor Lee reported the investigation report containing these contents to Commissioner Lee on the previous day (the 22nd).
Inside and outside the prosecution, there was speculation that the Dior bag case was going through the process of ending with no charges, given that Prosecutor General Lee had agreed with the investigation team’s legal judgment. However, on the 20th of last month, when the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office investigation team conducted a closed-door, face-to-face investigation of Ms. Kim at the Presidential Security Service building in Changseong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, a controversy over fairness arose. There is an interpretation that Prosecutor General Lee brought up the idea of convening an investigation review committee comprised of external personnel in order to quell this. There is also analysis that the fact that Prosecutor General Lee decided to convene the investigation review committee and requested that it review not only Ms. Kim’s charges of violating the Prohibition of Solicitation and Bribery Act, but also her charges of mediation and violation of the Attorney-at-Law Act, is an attempt to quell the controversy over a “lenient investigation.”
In the legal community, there are opinions that the fact that the investigation review committee is comprised of external figures such as lawyers and law professors could act as a new variable in the disposition of Mrs. Kim’s case.
Prosecutor General with 20 days left in term pulls out ‘Sushimwi card’… Supreme Prosecutors’ Office “Enhance fairness”
[‘金여사 디올백’ 수심위 회부]
The investigation committee consists of 15 external members… It takes about two weeks from referral to disposition
Lee Won-seok, announcement of disposition within term… Time is tight
Interest in the direction of case disposition due to last-minute variables
“In this case, which is receiving intense social attention and has been a source of ongoing controversy, we have decided that it would be desirable to conclude it through the investigation review committee process to enhance fairness and prevent further controversy.” The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office stated this at around 6:00 PM on the 23rd regarding the reason Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok decided to convene the investigation review committee regarding Ms. Kim Gun-hee’s Dior bag case. The reason for the convening was to enhance “procedural fairness,” rather than to avoid legal issues with the “no suspicion” conclusion of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office investigation team. With Ms. Kim’s Dior bag case effectively coming to a close, attention is focusing on the future direction of the case with the introduction of the investigation review committee variable.
● Lee “Enhancing fairness, tying up the knot without leaving any controversy”
The day before (22nd), this chief received a report from Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office Chief Lee Chang-soo regarding the Dior bag case involving Mrs. Kim, which contained the conclusion of “no charges.” After the report, on the way home from work and until the 23rd, when asked by reporters whether to convene the investigation review committee, he only repeated, “I will tell you later,” and did not reveal his position. Then, just one day after receiving the “no charges” report from this chief prosecutor, he made the abrupt decision to convene the investigation review committee.
Within the prosecution, there are many assessments that the Prosecutor General would not have had any objections to the conclusions of the investigation team. In fact, when the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office announced its decision to convene the investigation review committee on this day, it added its position that “the Prosecutor General received a report on the investigation results from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office and evaluated that the evidence judgment and legal interpretation were faithfully carried out.”
However, in the legal community, there is an analysis that the card of convening the investigation review committee was eventually pulled out due to various controversies over fairness that arose during the investigation of Ms. Kim. The 1st Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Seung-ho) conducted a private investigation of Ms. Kim at the Presidential Security Service building in Changseong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 20th of last month, and reported this process to Prosecutor General Lee after the fact, sparking controversy over ‘passing over the Prosecutor General.’ Considering that Prosecutor General Lee has always emphasized ‘an investigation that appears fair’ as well as the content or results of the investigation, there has been consistent speculation that the decision will be made by the investigation review committee, which is composed of external personnel.
● About 2 weeks until the water quality inspection… Tight deadline
The investigation review committee is an organization in which external members discuss whether to continue the prosecution and investigation of cases that are receiving public attention. The committee is convened by randomly selecting 150 to 300 members from various fields such as academia, law, and the media.
Normally, the investigation review committee takes about two weeks from referral to disposition of a case. The investigation review committee on former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Kim Kwang-ho regarding the Itaewon tragedy, which was convened by Prosecutor General Lee in January, met 11 days after the referral, and it took 15 days until former Commissioner General Kim was indicted without detention. Considering that Prosecutor General Lee, who is scheduled to step down on the 13th of next month, has only about 20 days left in his term, the time between convening the investigation review committee and disposition of the case is tight. Prosecutor General Lee has publicly stated that he will dispose of the Dior bag case during his term.
However, the decision of the investigation review committee is not a mandatory regulation and only has a recommendation effect. For example, in 2020, the investigation review committee recommended the suspension of investigation and non-indictment of then Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and others in relation to the suspicion of merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, but the prosecution indicted Vice Chairman Lee without detention.
● Mrs. Kim, including Doichi, is sensitive to the influence of other incidents
Inside and outside the prosecution, there are predictions that the convening of the investigation review committee for the Dior bag case could also affect the ongoing investigation into the alleged stock price manipulation case of Deutsche Motors, which is currently under investigation by Ms. Kim. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office’s Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 (Chief Prosecutor Choi Jae-hoon) conducted a private investigation of Ms. Kim along with the Dior bag case on the 20th of last month, regarding the suspicion that she was involved as the so-called ‘money owner’ in the Deutsche Motors case, and was also embroiled in controversy over fairness.
Accordingly, there is an outlook that the possibility of convening an investigation review committee for the Deutsche Motors case will increase. In the case of the Dior bag, the investigation review committee may decide to recommend non-indictment because the facts are simple and it is not easy to prove the charges in terms of legal principles. A lawyer who used to be a prosecutor explained, “The investigation review committee considers political judgments along with legal judgments,” and “If the investigation review committee is held for the same suspect in succession, it may be burdensome to recommend a disposition in the same direction.”
Reporter Yoo Won-mo [email protected]
Reporter Koo Min-ki [email protected]
2024-08-25 09:19:55