Suspicion of 'Investigation Confidentiality Leak' Former Court Chief Lee Tae-jong Supreme Court Verdict... Acquittal in 1st and 2nd Trials

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[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] On the 30th, former Chief Judge of the Seoul Western District Court Lee Tae-jong (currently a presiding judge at the Suwon High Court) will face the Supreme Court's judgment on charges of leaking confidential information to prevent the expansion of investigations into internal court corruption. Lee was acquitted in both the first and second trials.

The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Park Jeong-hwa) will hold the appellate hearing in the afternoon regarding Lee, who was indicted on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights.

Lee was prosecuted on charges that in 2016, while serving as Chief Judge of the Seoul Western District Court, he instructed a planning judge to obtain investigation secrets such as copies of warrants when the prosecution investigated the staff of the enforcement officers' office, and reported them to Lim Jong-heon, then Deputy Director of the Court Administration Office.

However, both the first and second trial courts acquitted Lee of the charges. The first trial court stated, "It appears that the defendant thoroughly ordered an audit as the court chief," and ruled, "Even looking at the materials collected by the Seoul Western District Court, there is no material mentioning the possibility of expanding investigations to other courts beyond what is necessary for internal audits."

In the second trial, the court explained, "Although the planning judge collecting audit materials to report to the defendant and the Court Administration Office may have slightly exceeded the minimum necessary scope to achieve the purpose of office administration, it cannot be considered that the materials were obtained unrelated to official duties." In particular, regarding the charge that Lee instructed the secretary-general to obtain copies of warrants, the court judged that there was insufficient evidence to recognize that there was an intention to obstruct the expansion of investigations beyond the purpose of auditing enforcement officers' corruption or that any illegal or improper orders were given.

Meanwhile, among the 14 former and current judges indicted in connection with the 'judicial scandal' allegations, Lee is the fifth to face the Supreme Court's judgment.

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