The prosecution appealed the second trial verdict sentencing a 60-year-old construction contractor, the so-called “construction king,” to seven years in prison on charges of embezzling hundreds of billions of won in rental deposits in the Michuhol-gu area of Incheon.
Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office announced on the 29th that it has filed an appeal against the first trial’s ruling that sentenced construction contractor A (63), who was indicted on charges of fraud, violation of the Real Estate Real-Name System Act, and violation of the Certified Real Estate Brokerage Act, to 15 years in prison and the appellate court’s ruling that sentenced him to 7 years in prison, citing reasons such as insufficient trial and misunderstanding of legal principles.
The first trial court considered the entire amount of the victim household’s existing jeonse deposit as the amount of embezzlement, but the second trial recognized only the ‘newly concluded jeonse deposit’ and the ‘increased jeonse deposit’ as the amount of embezzlement for Mr. A as of January 2022 and for the nine accomplices as of May 27, 2022.
As of that date, tenants who had renewed their contracts were found not guilty of the portion of the security deposit they had initially paid prior to renewal.
The prosecution stated the reason for the appeal, saying, “Even if a contract is renewed without the ability to repay the deposit, fraud is committed,” and “We do not accept the appellate court’s decision because we judge that the accomplices participated in the crime even before May 27, 2022, knowing that it would be difficult to return the deposit.”
Earlier, on the 27th, Incheon District Court Criminal Appeal Division 1-2 (Presiding Judge Jeong Woo-yeong) overturned the first trial’s sentence of 15 years in prison for Mr. A and sentenced him to 7 years in prison.
The appellate court also sentenced nine accomplices, including real estate agents and trustees, who were indicted on the same charges, to not guilty or sentenced them to prison terms of 8 months to 1 year and 6 months, suspended for 2 to 3 years, unlike the first trial, which sentenced them to sentences of 4 to 13 years.
The appellate court recognized only 6.8 billion won of the 14.8 billion won in alleged embezzlement by Mr. A and his group, which was acknowledged in the first trial. It also overturned the first trial’s finding that they violated the Real Estate Brokers Act, and found them not guilty.
Chief Judge Jeong said, “If you look at the list of crimes submitted by the prosecutor, it seems that the accomplices became aware that ‘Person A’s financial status was not good’ after May 27, 2022.” He explained, “The number of rental contracts decreased sharply after May 27, and in fact, the number of rental contracts signed for an increased or equal amount is much higher than that of new rental contracts.”
He continued, “Considering these circumstances, it appears that the other defendants, except for Mr. A, were not involved in the lease agreement at all after May.” He added, “Regarding Mr. A, I decided to admit to the crime from January 2022, and find the other defendants guilty by acknowledging their negligence after May 27 of the same year.”
In so doing, the court stated the reason for the sentencing, saying, “We recognize 6.9 billion won as the amount of embezzlement limited to newly concluded lease contracts and increased deposits during the period of crimes stated in the indictment submitted by the prosecutor,” and “We viewed that there was no proof of crime for contracts concluded for the same amount.”
At the time, the first trial court ruled that “the defendant committed crimes against economically vulnerable targets, such as young, fresh graduates, newlyweds, and senior citizens in their 70s,” and that “the motive and method of the crimes were extremely wicked, and the consequences were serious considering the number of victims and the scale of the damage.” It sentenced A to the maximum penalty allowed by law for fraud.
Person A and others were indicted on charges of embezzling approximately 14.8 billion won in rental deposits from 191 tenants of apartments they owned in Michuhol-gu, Incheon from March 2021 to July 2022.
If we include the cases that the prosecution indicted for the second and third time and are currently on separate trial, the number of victims of the Construction King gang’s lease fraud during the same period increases to 665, and the amount of damage deposit increases to approximately 53.6 billion won.
Meanwhile, Mr. A was called the construction king after it was revealed that he owned 2,700 apartments and officetels, mainly in Incheon and Gyeonggi Province. Four victims died between February and May of last year, when the truth about the jeonse scam was revealed, mainly in Michuhol-gu.
[인천=뉴시스]
2024-08-30 06:17:33