Ministry of Justice Disciplines Former Prosecutor General Antaegeun with Salary Reduction for 'Money Envelope Dinner'... Resignation Expected to be Accepted

Former Prosecutor General of the Ministry of Justice, Ahn Tae-geun. / Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The Ministry of Justice has imposed a salary reduction penalty on former Director of the Prosecutor's Office at the Ministry of Justice, Ahn Tae-geun (54, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 20), who was dismissed in the so-called 'money envelope dinner' incident but won a lawsuit to cancel the disciplinary action and was reinstated.

As the disciplinary level has been lowered, it is expected that Ahn's resignation will be accepted soon.

According to the legal community on the 14th, the Ministry of Justice held a prosecutor disciplinary committee meeting the day before and decided on a six-month salary reduction penalty for former Director Ahn.

Previously, Ahn, who had received the highest level of disciplinary action, dismissal, from the Ministry of Justice due to the 'money envelope dinner' incident, filed a lawsuit against the Ministry to cancel the dismissal and won, leading to his reinstatement last February.

On April 21, 2017, Ahn took two junior prosecutors from the Prosecutor's Office and had dinner with seven prosecutors from the Special Investigation Headquarters, including Lee Young-ryeol, then head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (61, class 18).

At that gathering, Ahn handed envelopes containing 700,000 to 1,000,000 won to six junior prosecutors in charge of investigating the Choi Soon-sil gate. Former Prosecutor Lee gave envelopes containing 1,000,000 won to two prosecutors from the Ministry of Justice.

Ahn and former Prosecutor Lee explained that it was for reimbursement of investigation expenses and encouragement, but as criticism arose, the Ministry of Justice held a prosecutor disciplinary committee and dismissed both. Subsequently, the two filed lawsuits to cancel the disciplinary actions and won in the first trial.

The Ministry of Justice gave up appealing regarding former Prosecutor Lee after the court confirmed his innocence on charges under the Anti-Graft Act, but only appealed against former Director Ahn.

However, the Supreme Court also dismissed the Ministry of Justice's appeal without substantive review on February 13.

After reinstatement, Ahn immediately submitted his resignation, but the Ministry of Justice did not accept it, citing that the case, which had a dismissal cancellation ruling, still constituted grounds for severe disciplinary action and referred him back to the disciplinary committee.

With the salary reduction penalty, which is a minor disciplinary action, decided at this disciplinary committee, former Director Ahn is now eligible for resignation with honor.

The Ministry of Justice no longer has grounds to refuse acceptance of Ahn's resignation.

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