Prosecutors Request Trial Consolidation for Choi Se-won and Cho Dae-sik, Court Says "Decision to Be Made Later"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The prosecution recently requested to consolidate the case of Cho Dae-sik, chairman of SK Supex Council, who was recently indicted, with the ongoing trial of Choi Se-won, chairman of SK Telesciences. However, the court did not make an immediate decision and postponed it.

The Criminal Division 23 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Yoo Young-geun) stated on the 27th during a continuation hearing on charges against Chairman Choi, including violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (embezzlement), "It is difficult to immediately consolidate this case with the case of defendant Cho Dae-sik."

Earlier, on the 25th, the prosecution indicted Chairman Cho and requested the court to consolidate the trial with Chairman Choi’s case, which was indicted earlier. Incidentally, Chairman Cho’s case was assigned to the same court division as Chairman Choi’s.

The court said, "It is difficult to give an immediate answer regarding consolidation," adding, "We will hold a preparatory hearing for the newly indicted case and conduct at least one formal trial before deciding whether to consolidate the cases or proceed with parallel trials."

Although it is common to consolidate cases for efficient trial when the charges and evidence overlap significantly, the court considered that Chairman Choi’s detention period is set to expire in early September, requiring expedited proceedings, and that witness examinations overlapping with Chairman Cho’s charges have already progressed considerably.

Therefore, the court asked the prosecution and defense counsel to review the matter and provide their opinions. Chairman Choi’s side stated they would review the matter but would abide by the court’s decision.

Meanwhile, Chairman Cho is accused of conspiring with Chairman Choi from June to September 2012, when SK Telesciences was facing a crisis of bankruptcy, to provide false or incomplete reports regarding self-rescue plans without providing management diagnosis results to SKC’s outside directors, and then obtaining board approval to have SKC participate in a paid-in capital increase of approximately 19.9 billion KRW in SK Telesciences.

Later, in 2015, when SK Telesciences again faced a bankruptcy crisis, it was investigated that they obtained board approval in the same manner to have SKC participate in a paid-in capital increase of approximately 70 billion KRW in SK Telesciences.

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