Supreme Court Confirms Prison Sentences for Two Former Court Administration Office Chiefs in 'Electronic Court Bidding Corruption' Case

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Former employees of the Court Administration Office who funneled a Supreme Court electronic courtroom construction project worth hundreds of billions of won to a company owned by a former employee and pocketed bribes have been sentenced to prison terms.

The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Park Jung-hwa) on the 29th upheld the original sentence of 8 years imprisonment each for former Court Administration Office managers Kang (54) and Son (52), who were indicted on charges including bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.

Kang was also fined 720 million won and ordered to pay a confiscation amount of about 350 million won, while Son was fined 520 million won and ordered to pay a confiscation amount of about 180 million won, all of which were confirmed.

Nam (49), a former Court Administration Office employee who gave bribes to them and won the project bid, was also sentenced to 4 years imprisonment.

However, whistleblower Lee (48), who participated in the bid-rigging but reported it to the media and others, received a suspended sentence of 1 year imprisonment.

In addition, two executives of the business entity who colluded with Nam in the court project bidding process were each fined 3 million won, while three others were acquitted.

Nam, a former official of the Court Administration Office's Computer Information Management Bureau, established a company under his wife's name in 2007 and won projects worth a total of 40 billion won, including the introduction of real-time visualizers for the court.

The prosecution confirmed suspicions that the background for winning such large-scale projects was the "connection" between Nam and current administrative office employees and brought the case to trial in December 2018.

Investigations revealed that current employees of the Court Administration Office facilitated Nam's company to win bids and received bribes from him.

Court officials were found to have received bribes amounting to 690 million won in return.

The first trial sentenced Kang and Son to 10 years imprisonment and Nam to 6 years imprisonment. The second trial reduced the sentences somewhat, sentencing Kang and Son to 8 years imprisonment and Nam to 4 years imprisonment.

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