'Fraudulent Receipt of Long-term Care Benefits' Yoon Seok-yeol's Mother-in-law's Appeal Trial Begins, What Are the Key Issues?

3-Year Prison Sentence in First Trial with Immediate Detention... Preparatory Hearing on the 26th, Bail Hearing Scheduled

[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] The appeal trial of Choi Mo, the mother-in-law of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, who was sentenced to three years in prison in the first trial for operating an illegal nursing hospital and fraudulently receiving tens of billions of won in nursing care benefits, is set to begin. The key issue is whether Choi was involved in the establishment and operation of the nursing hospital. On this day, the court will first decide on the bail hearing requested by Choi's side.

On the 26th, the Criminal Division 5 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Yoon Gang-yeol, Park Jae-young, Kim Sang-cheol) will hold the first preparatory hearing for Choi’s appeal trial at 5 p.m. on charges including violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (fraud).

The court will listen to the reasons for Choi’s appeal and confirm the prosecution’s position. It will also establish the plan for the proceedings in the appeal trial. Although the defendant is not obligated to appear, a bail hearing is scheduled, so Choi’s attendance in court is highly likely.

Choi was prosecuted for establishing a medical institution for profit with partners in November 2012 despite lacking the qualifications to open a medical institution, and for being involved in the establishment and operation of a nursing hospital located in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, in February of the following year.

Under the National Health Insurance Act, nursing care benefits cannot be claimed unless the medical institution is established according to the Medical Service Act. However, Choi is accused of illegally embezzling a total of 2,294.2 million won in nursing care benefits through the nursing hospital from May 2013 to May 2015.

In the first trial, Choi’s side argued, "The defendant was not involved in prior consultations regarding the purchase of the hospital building, and on the day of the contract, a related party urgently borrowed money from the defendant," adding, "It is extremely unfair to judge that the defendant led the purchase of the hospital building based on this."

However, the first trial court sentenced her to three years in prison, stating, "The key issue is whether the defendant bears co-conspirator responsibility. While there appears to be some purpose of recovering investment funds, it is judged that she played a leading role in the establishment and operation of the nursing hospital." The court also pointed out, "Although there was some purpose of recovering investment funds, it is judged that she contributed to the leading role in the establishment and operation of the nursing hospital," and "The responsibility is heavy as it worsened the finances of the National Health Insurance Corporation and caused damage to the entire public."

The key issue in the appeal trial is also whether Choi was involved in hospital operations and whether she prevented the co-conspirators from carrying out their crimes. Immediately after the first trial verdict, Choi’s side protested, saying, "Even after reviewing all the evidence submitted by the prosecution, there is no basis to conclude that Choi led or controlled the hospital or profited from it."

In the legal community, it is considered difficult for Choi’s trial to conclude before the presidential election, given that former Prosecutor General Yoon has emerged as a presidential candidate. Besides this case, Choi is also undergoing trials and investigations for forging bank balance certificates and allegations of unfairly acquiring rights to a memorial park project.

The trial for the case in which Choi is accused of creating and using a fake bank balance certificate during the purchase of land in Dochon-dong, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province in 2013 is scheduled for next month, and the allegations of improper involvement in the memorial park project are currently under police investigation. Previously, the police sent this case to the prosecution with a non-prosecution recommendation in December last year but received a request for supplementary investigation.

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