Prosecutors Indict Gang in '12 Billion Won Military Supply Fraud'... "Truth to Be Revealed Through Supplementary Investigation"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The prosecution has brought to trial a group accused of disguising Chinese-made coastal surveillance equipment as domestically produced and supplying it to the Army, thereby pocketing unfair profits worth approximately 12 billion KRW.

The Anti-Corruption and Strong Investigation Cooperation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Cheon Ki-hong) indicted four individuals on the 27th, including military broker Mr. A and representatives of military supply companies, on charges of fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and obstruction of official duties by deception.

Mr. A and others are accused of winning the bid for the "Haegang-an Project," commissioned by the Army Headquarters in March 2020 to strengthen surveillance along border coastal and riverside areas, by falsely representing low-cost Chinese surveillance equipment as products directly manufactured by domestic small and medium enterprises, and embezzling 10.4 billion KRW in equipment payments. They are also charged with similarly winning the "Hangpogu Project," commissioned by the Army Headquarters in August of the same year, and embezzling 1.5 billion KRW in equipment payments.

The prosecution received the case from the police in October last year and conducted additional searches and supplementary investigations. A prosecution official explained, "Given the prosecution's extensive experience in investigating and prosecuting defense industry crimes, we judged that the evidence secured through the police investigation alone was insufficient to secure a guilty verdict in this case," adding, "We conducted supplementary investigations including additional searches, analysis of project documents and transaction details, and over 20 interviews with numerous witnesses and defendants."

Through this, the prosecution discovered additional criminal acts related to the Hangpogu Project defendants and identified accomplices, indicting them together. Mr. A, who played the role of broker and led the crimes in both projects, was detained by the prosecution. Allegations of bribery involving military officials uncovered during the supplementary investigation are being investigated by the military prosecution unit.

The prosecution stated that this case is "a case in which the organic cooperation between the prosecution and police through supplementary investigations uncovered the truth behind highly sophisticated corruption related to defense projects and led to indictment." Furthermore, citing the recent 'Prosecution Investigation Restriction' law that excludes defense project crimes from the prosecution's direct investigation scope, they warned that "if supplementary investigations are unjustly narrowed in scope and unity, it will inevitably cause serious obstacles to uncovering crimes in major cases like this one."

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