‘First self-initiated investigation by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials’ police 700 million-won bribery case, 10-year first-instance sentence → on appeal, drastically reduced to a suspended sentence - 경향신문

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Court logo at the Seoul Court Complex in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo Joint Press Corps

A former senior police official indicted on charges including taking about 700 million won in bribes received a suspended prison sentence on appeal. As the bribery charges were overturned as not guilty, the 10-year prison term at first instance was drastically reduced. This case was the first that the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials investigated on its own initiative after its launch.

On the 25th, the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 3 (Presiding Judge Lee Seung-Han) sentenced former Senior Superintendent General Kim, who had been indicted on charges of bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes and violations of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, the Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment, the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, and the Specialized Credit Finance Business Act, to one year in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered the forfeiture of 110.16 million won.

From June 2020 to February 2023, Kim was brought to trial on charges of receiving valuables worth 750 million won from a businessman, Mr. A, in return for business favors and arranging contact with police officers handling criminal cases. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials concluded that Kim took bribes by using a borrowed-name account, using a credit card belonging to A, and having education expenses for his children paid on his behalf. At first instance, the court imposed a heavy sentence of 10 years in prison and took him into custody in the courtroom. It also imposed a fine of 1.6 billion won and an order to forfeit a little over 750 million won.

However, the appellate panel on this day found Kim guilty only of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act. It held that, aside from the allegation that he used a credit card belonging to A and received items such as a laptop, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials had not sufficiently proven the remaining allegations of receiving valuables.

The panel determined it was difficult to identify the account designated as a borrowed-name account for Kim as actually belonging to him. The panel stated, “Since it cannot be definitively deemed a borrowed-name account of Kim, the mere fact that 630 million won from A was deposited into that account does not suffice to conclude that the money was funds A paid to Kim.”

The allegation that Kim had A cover 13 million won in education expenses for his children was also not recognized. The panel found that, in the process of seizing the mobile phone of A, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials did not adequately guarantee the right to participation. It therefore concluded that the agency investigated the allegation using illegally collected evidence, and that if such unlawfully collected evidence is excluded, the criminal facts are not proven.

The panel stated, “With respect to the procedure for seizing the mobile phone of A, there was illegality, including the failure to guarantee the right to participation, and the first-instance court recognized admissibility despite such illegality,” and, “However, this court, in light of the process, nature, and content of the illegality, determines that the case substantially infringed the purpose of the law guaranteeing the participation in procedure by the person from whom the item was seized, and does not admit the electronic information seized by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials from the mobile phone of A or the secondary evidence based on it.”

The panel also determined that other valuables of about 100 million won that Kim received from A lacked a quid pro quo and therefore were not bribes. The panel stated, “A may have thought that making a good impression on Kim, a high-ranking police official, or maintaining familiarity with him would help his business,” and, “However, a mere vague expectation cannot by itself establish the crime of bribery.”

The panel explained its reasons for sentencing as follows: “The amount of money and valuables exchanged exceeds 100 million won, and the offending conduct continued for two years and seven months, yet Kim denied the conduct from the investigative stage even though he should bear responsibility commensurate with it,” while also stating, “We comprehensively took into account that he worked relatively diligently in the police for 30 years and that he had an opportunity for reflection during a little over six months in custody.”

With respect to the remaining three defendants, A, his elder brother, and an acquaintance, the panel found that the indictment by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials was not lawful and dismissed the case. The panel stated, “The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials has investigative authority over crimes by high-ranking officials and related crimes, but its authority to indict and maintain prosecutions extends only to offenses committed by the high-ranking official or family,” and, “The indictments of A and others who are not the high-ranking official or family as defined by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials Act are in violation of the law and thus null and void.”

This case was the first investigation the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials initiated on its own without a complaint or accusation since its launch in January 2021. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials had been investigating allegations that Kim received bribes from Lee Sang-Young, chairman of Daewoo Industrial Development, in return for quashing an investigation, when it commenced this case.