Court Assigns Kim Hak-ui's Illegal Departure Case of Lee Gyu-won and Cha Gyu-geun to Collegiate Bench... Focus on 'Prosecutorial Authority' Decision

Cha Gyu-geun, Director of the Immigration and Foreign Policy Headquarters at the Ministry of Justice.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The case involving Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won and Cha Gyu-geun, head of the Ministry of Justice’s Immigration and Foreign Policy Headquarters, who were indicted for alleged illegal travel bans related to former Vice Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui, will be handled by a collegiate panel.

According to the legal community on the 3rd, the Seoul Central District Court decided to assign the case of Prosecutor Lee and Director Cha, who were indicted without detention on charges including abuse of authority and obstruction of rights, to a collegiate panel after a reallocation review.

A reallocation review is a procedure where, considering the importance of the case, it is assigned not to a single judge but to a collegiate panel of three judges. Although this case was originally subject to a single-judge trial, the court decided to assign it to a collegiate panel due to its significance.

The presiding court and trial schedule have not yet been determined.

Earlier, the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office’s “Kim Hak-ui Travel Ban Investigation Team” (led by Lee Jeong-seop, Head of Criminal Division 3) indicted Prosecutor Lee and Director Cha without detention on the 1st on charges including abuse of authority, obstruction of rights, falsification of official documents, and use of falsified official documents. The prosecution stated that they filed the indictment with the Seoul Central District Court instead of the Suwon District Court, considering the defendants’ addresses.

In Prosecutor Lee’s case, the High-ranking Officials’ Crime Investigation Office (HOICO) re-transferred the case to the prosecution, requesting, “Please transfer it back so that the investigation office can decide whether to prosecute after completing the investigation.” However, the prosecution indicted directly.

HOICO Chief Kim Jin-wook holds the position that since the HOICO chief has the authority to transfer cases, it is naturally possible to transfer with prosecution rights reserved, meaning only investigative authority is transferred. On the other hand, the prosecution argues that the subject of transfer is the “case,” not the “authority,” so “transfer with reservation” is not allowed, and once HOICO re-transfers the case, it can no longer be involved in it.

Given the sharp conflict between HOICO and the prosecution, it is expected that the court will rule on the prosecution’s authority to indict in the re-transferred case during Prosecutor Lee’s trial.

If the court interprets Article 3, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2 of the HOICO Act, which grants HOICO the prosecution authority over high-ranking officials’ crimes committed by judges, prosecutors, or police officers of superintendent rank or higher while in office, as conferring exclusive prosecution rights to HOICO for such crimes, Prosecutor Lee’s case will be dismissed.

Conversely, if the provision is interpreted as granting HOICO prosecution rights only exceptionally and not excluding the prosecution’s authority, the trial will proceed through the usual process and reach a verdict.

Prosecutor Lee, who was dispatched to the Past Affairs Investigation Team of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, is accused of abusing authority by falsifying official documents during the emergency travel ban process against former Vice Minister Kim, who was about to depart for Bangkok, Thailand, on March 22, 2019, and requesting an emergency travel ban using the falsified documents.

At that time, former Vice Minister Kim was not subject to a travel ban as he had not been criminally charged, but Prosecutor Lee requested an emergency travel ban at Incheon Airport Immigration Office by listing the case number of a sexual assault case in which Kim was cleared by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office in 2013.

Later, in the emergency travel ban approval request submitted to the Ministry of Justice, instead of the case number listed in the earlier emergency travel ban request, a fake investigation number “Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office 2019 Internal Investigation No. 1” was written and submitted.

Director Cha is accused of receiving reports 177 times from March 19 to 22, 2019, through Ministry of Justice immigration screening officials, containing personal information inquiries including former Vice Minister Kim’s name, date of birth, and immigration control information.

He is also accused of approving the emergency travel ban request on the morning of the 23rd, a day after Prosecutor Lee illegally requested the emergency travel ban on former Vice Minister Kim, despite being aware of the circumstances.

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