The Corruption Investigation Office Reviews Investigation into 'Sponsor Prosecutor' Kim Hyeong-jun's Bribery Case

High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Agency (Gong-su-cheo) / Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Unit (HCIC) has taken charge of the bribery case involving former Chief Prosecutor Kim Hyung-jun, who was infamously known as the so-called 'sponsor prosecutor.'

According to the legal community on the 4th, the HCIC received the case of former Chief Prosecutor Kim, who is accused of bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office last month and is currently reviewing whether to conduct a direct investigation.

Former Chief Prosecutor Kim is accused of receiving bribes totaling 40 million won in three installments from Park, a former colleague prosecutor turned lawyer, between March and September 2016, in exchange for covering up Park's criminal charges.

Previously, in 2018, the Supreme Court confirmed a sentence of one year imprisonment with a two-year probation for former Chief Prosecutor Kim, who was accused of receiving entertainment and hospitality over several years from 'sponsor' Kim, a middle and high school classmate, in return for facilitating investigations related to him.

The bribery charges now transferred to the HCIC stem from an investigation by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office at the time, which, despite probing the sponsor allegations against former Chief Prosecutor Kim, did not recognize the acts as bribery and closed the case. The issue resurfaced when sponsor Kim filed a complaint with the police in October 2019.

The police conducted an investigation for about a year and, at the end of last October, forwarded the case to the prosecution with the opinion that former Chief Prosecutor Kim and lawyer Park should be indicted. The prosecution held the case for approximately eight months before recently transferring it to the HCIC.

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