The Choi Sin-won Court: "Trials Must End Within 6 Months of Detention Expiry... Please Coordinate Schedules Between Prosecution and Defense"

Chairman Choi Cheol-won of SK Networks Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The court has indicated its intention to conclude the trial of Choi Soon-won, chairman of SK Networks, who was indicted while in custody on charges including embezzlement and breach of trust involving approximately 220 billion won, before his detention period expires.

On the morning of the 30th, the Criminal Division 23 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Yoo Young-geun) held the first preparatory hearing for Chairman Choi, who was indicted on charges including embezzlement, breach of trust, fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, violations of the Capital Markets Act, the Real Name Financial Transactions and Confidentiality Act, and the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act. The court stated, "We will reduce the trial preparation period to about two weeks, so both the defense and prosecution should coordinate their schedules." This implies the court's intention to finish the trial before Chairman Choi's detention expires on September 4, barring any special circumstances. The court also scheduled the second preparatory hearing for April 12 and decided to hold formal trials once a week starting April 22.

The first hearing was stalled due to the defense's insufficient review of the evidence records. The court expressed dissatisfaction with both the prosecution and defense, stating, "We cannot start with the premise that the trial cannot be completed within the detention period." When the prosecution was asked to roughly explain the main issues and evidence plan, they responded that they would prepare a presentation and clarify their position next week. The court retorted, "The prosecution cannot expect the court to bear the burden after requesting an arrest warrant." It added, "The trial process must be finalized in two weeks. If this continues, it will take years. If so, the detention should not have been requested in the first place."

The court mentioned that although the prosecution said it would present its evidence plan at the next hearing due to reasons such as the defense not yet reviewing the charges, "The trial schedule must proceed without being affected by reasons like document inspection." It further stated, "Since this is a detention case, it is classified as a major case requiring immediate handling," and "The court's goal is to handle the case within the detention period."

According to the prosecution, Chairman Choi is accused of breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes for lending 15.5 billion won from SK Telesys funds without collateral to his personal company A, which was developing a private golf course, in April 2009. He is also charged with embezzlement for withdrawing 16.4 billion won from SK Telesys funds without accounting in September 2012 and using it for his personal paid-in capital increase related to SK Telesys. Additionally, in October of the same year, he is accused of fraud and violating the Capital Markets Act by deceiving the New Growth Engine Fund into subscribing to 27.5 billion won worth of bonds with warrants (BW) issued by SK Telesys, making it appear as if he personally paid the capital increase funds during the paid-in capital increase.

Between September 2011 and June 2015, when SK Telesys, which he independently operated, faced bankruptcy risk, Chairman Choi is accused of breach of trust for having SKC, where he was chairman, participate in paid-in capital increases three times totaling 93.6 billion won, while refusing SKC's board demands to disclose SK Telesys accounting data and conduct management diagnostics to decide on participation. Investigations revealed that the amount embezzled and breached of trust across six companies he operated, including SK Networks, SKC, and SK Telesys, under the pretexts of pursuing the private golf course project, paying false salaries to family members, paying personal paid-in capital increase funds, and supporting insolvent affiliates, reached 223.5 billion won. Furthermore, he is charged with violating the Real Name Financial Transactions and Confidentiality Act for exchanging approximately 1.6 billion won in 158 cases under employees' names to evade reporting regulations in December 2017, and violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act for carrying about 900 million won in foreign currency abroad without reporting on 17 occasions from February 2016 to January 2018.

Meanwhile, Chairman Choi did not appear in court that day. The preparatory hearing is a procedure before the formal trial where the court listens to the prosecution's and defense's evidence plans and screens necessary evidence and witnesses, and the defendant is not obligated to attend.

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