Prosecution Appeals 'Tada' First Trial Not Guilty Verdict

On the 29th, a 'Tada' van operating in Seoul city./Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] The prosecution has appealed the first-instance acquittal ruling on the charge of violating the Transport Business Act by the car-sharing service 'Tada'.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office announced on the 25th that it had submitted an appeal to the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 18 (Presiding Judge Park Sang-gu) against Lee Jae-woong, CEO of Socar, and Park Jae-woong, CEO of its subsidiary VCNC.

Regarding the first-instance acquittal of Tada, the prosecution held a Public Prosecution Deliberation Committee to decide whether to appeal, and on the same day, finally decided to file an appeal. The Public Prosecution Deliberation Committee is composed of the chairman, Lee Jung-hyun, the first deputy chief prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, and six members (chief prosecutors and prosecutors in charge), in accordance with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office regulations on 'Guidelines for Prosecutors' Sentencing and Appeals.' The Public Prosecution Deliberation Committees at various prosecution offices decide whether to appeal major cases where a not guilty verdict has been rendered.

The committee included external advisors from the startup and taxi industries such as attorney Koo Tae-eon, head of the Tech & Law division at Law Firm Lynn, and Professor Kim Young-gil of Kookmin University, as well as officials from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and five chief prosecutors who are not members of the committee.

Lee Jae-woong, CEO of Socar, is speaking at the discussion titled "Ban the Tada Ban Law," hosted by the nonprofit organization Open Net, held on the 16th at Seonghong Tower in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. / Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

At the Public Prosecution Deliberation Committee, some external experts expressed opinions that 'Tada' made full use of exceptions within the scope of current laws and that there is an urgent need to activate sharing-based platform businesses. However, the meeting concluded that the substantive content of Tada's business corresponds to a paid passenger transport business and that the defendants' intent regarding the related offenses was sufficiently recognized, leading to a consensus to file an appeal against the first-instance ruling.

Regarding this, a prosecution official said, "The committee conducted in-depth discussions on the review opinions of the investigation and trial teams."

Earlier, Presiding Judge Park Sang-gu of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 18 acquitted Lee Jae-woong, CEO of Socar, Park Jae-woong, CEO of its subsidiary VCNC, and each corporation on charges of violating the Passenger Transport Business Act.

The core prosecution allegation in this case was that the defendants violated the Passenger Transport Business Act. The prosecution's judgment was that the defendants operated an illegal unlicensed call taxi service by arranging drivers for 11-passenger vehicles through the Tada smartphone application. The Transport Business Act stipulates that car rental business operators shall not arrange drivers for lessees of business-use vehicles.

However, the court did not accept these prosecution claims. The first-instance court at the time pointed out, "Tada's business involves valid contractual relationships among multiple parties such as leasing, so it cannot be considered taxi operation," and "Including van leasing services like Tada under the Transport Business Act, which the prosecution cited as grounds for guilt, excessively expands the scope of penal regulations."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.