'500 Million Won Fine for False Internship Controversy' Yoon Geon-yeong Files Formal Trial Challenging Verdict

Allegations of False Intern Registration at Baek Won-woo's Office

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] Yoon Geon-young, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, who received a summary order fine of 5 million won on charges of registering a false intern in a National Assembly member's office and receiving salary, has filed a formal trial in objection to the verdict.

According to the court on the 16th, Representative Yoon recently submitted a formal trial request to Judge Lee Seong-yong, Chief Judge of Summary Division 3 at the Seoul Southern District Court, who handled the summary indictment case.

A summary order is a procedure that imposes fines or penalties without a trial, and if the party receiving the summary order objects, they can request a formal trial within one week after receiving the summary order document.

Accordingly, the case was assigned to Judge Kim Jin-cheol, Chief Judge of Criminal Division 6 at the Seoul Southern District Court, and the first trial date has not yet been set. It is known that Baek Won-woo, former Blue House Civil Affairs Secretary, who also received a summary order fine of 5 million won, did not request a formal trial.

Previously, Judge Lee, who handled the summary indictment case, issued summary orders of 5 million won fines each to Representative Yoon and former Secretary Baek, who were indicted on fraud charges. This amount is higher than the 3 million won fines each that the prosecution had requested in the summary indictment.

This case came to light after Kim Ha-ni, who worked with Representative Yoon while handling accounting duties at the Korea Future Development Institute (Miraeyeon), first reported it.

Kim revealed that from early July 2011, she was registered as a false intern at then-National Assembly member Baek Won-woo’s office at Yoon’s suggestion and received a monthly salary. She also claimed that she opened and operated a bank account in her name under Yoon’s instructions, which was actually a nominee account for Representative Yoon.

The civic group Action Alliance for Restoring the Rule of Law filed a complaint last June against Representative Yoon on charges of embezzlement, breach of trust, and violation of the Real Name Financial Transaction Act, and against former Secretary Baek on fraud charges.

However, the prosecution decided not to indict Representative Yoon on the charge of embezzlement in the course of duty, judging that the unpaid labor costs and loans at Miraeyeon were repaid, and there was no evidence to consider that funds were embezzled.

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