'Fraudulent Receipt of Long-term Care Benefits' Yoon Seok-yeol's Mother-in-law Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison... Judicial Detention (2nd Report)

Choi, the mother-in-law of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, who is accused of opening a nursing hospital and embezzling nursing benefits, is attending the first trial sentencing hearing held at the Uijeongbu District Court in Ganeung-dong, Uijeongbu-si, Gyeonggi-do on the 2nd.
On that day, the court sentenced Choi to three years in prison and ordered her immediate detention. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Choi Eun-soon (74), the mother-in-law of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, who was prosecuted for receiving fraudulent nursing care benefits from the National Health Insurance Service after opening a nursing hospital, was sentenced to prison in the first trial. This is the first court ruling on a family case since former Prosecutor General Yoon officially declared his presidential bid.

The Criminal Division 13 of Uijeongbu District Court (Presiding Judge Jung Sung-kyun) sentenced Choi to three years in prison and ordered her immediate detention on the 2nd, on charges of violating the Medical Service Act and the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (fraud).

Choi is accused of defrauding nursing care benefits while establishing and operating a nursing hospital in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, after founding a medical foundation with three partners in 2013. Although this hospital did not qualify as a medical institution under the Medical Service Act eligible to receive nursing care benefits from the National Health Insurance Service, it was investigated that they obtained approximately 2.29 billion KRW over two years starting in 2013.

Originally, the investigation into this case began in 2015 at the Paju Police Station in Gyeonggi Province, and the three partners were booked. They were prosecuted and their convictions were confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2017. On the other hand, Choi was initially cleared of charges because she resigned as chairperson in 2014 and received a 'letter of exemption from responsibility' from the management stating that she would not be held accountable for hospital operations. The investigation into Choi resumed in April last year following complaints filed by Choi Kang-wook, leader of the Open Democratic Party, and Hwang Hee-seok, Supreme Council member of the Open Democratic Party. The prosecution indicted Choi, stating that even if the parties involved signed a 'letter of exemption from responsibility,' it does not affect the establishment of a crime.

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