Supreme Court Rules "Guilty of Bribery and Malfeasance" for Official Who Leaked 'Humidifier Disinfectant' Information

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Supreme Court overturned and remanded the lower court's ruling with a guilty verdict for a former Ministry of Environment secretary who was prosecuted for receiving money and providing internal documents from Aekyung Industrial, which was under investigation for humidifier disinfectants.

On the 4th, the Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Lee Dongwon) accepted the prosecution's appeal during the final hearing of the appeal trial of former Ministry of Environment secretary Choi, who was charged with bribery and post-bribery misconduct, and sent the case back for retrial.

Choi is accused of working from 2017 to 2019 in the Ministry of Environment's humidifier disinfectant response task force (TF) and victim relief team, and providing internal approval statuses, internal documents, related schedules, and trends concerning humidifier disinfectants to Aekyung Industrial, the manufacturer and seller of humidifier disinfectants.

In particular, before the prosecution's search and seizure, Choi sent text messages to an Aekyung employee instructing to "organize the materials in advance," "the prosecution may come in," and "delete not only printed materials but also computers and mobile phones." It was investigated that Choi received several million won in money and goods from Aekyung Industrial as compensation.

The key issue at the Supreme Court was whether to apply the "post-bribery misconduct" charge, which the lower court had acquitted. The question was whether, when a public official repeatedly receives bribes under a single and continuous category and commits misconduct, the bribery received after the last misconduct should be treated the same as the bribery received before the misconduct under Article 131, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Act concerning post-bribery misconduct.

In the first trial, the court sentenced Choi to one year in prison with a two-year probation, stating, "Trust was damaged, and the victims' belief that the Ministry of Environment would fairly assist them was also broken." Choi appealed, arguing that the first trial misunderstood the law regarding the concept of a single continuous crime (where multiple criminal acts constitute one crime).

The second trial overturned the first, sentencing Choi to ten months in prison and ordering immediate imprisonment, stating, "Considering the social shock caused by the humidifier disinfectant, responsibility must be thoroughly investigated and strict sanctions imposed. The defendant's interference with truth-finding and punishment of responsible parties is highly condemnable." However, the court ruled that since Choi did not commit misconduct after receiving additional bribes, it did not constitute a single continuous crime of post-bribery misconduct.

On this day, the Supreme Court also stated, "Post-bribery misconduct does not necessarily mean that the misconduct must occur after the completion of bribery or similar acts," and "as with basic acts in combined crimes or consequential aggravated crimes, misconduct committed during the act of bribery should also be included." It further ruled, "If there are repeated bribery and misconduct over a certain period, and a causal relationship is recognized between the bribery and misconduct with the same protected legal interest, it is appropriate to punish the final bribery act together with the previous acts as a single continuous crime of post-bribery misconduct."

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