Court Upholds Non-Indictment Decision on Former KT Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu's 'Split Donations' Allegation

Former KT Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu / Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The court has ruled that the prosecution's decision not to indict former KT Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu (69) on charges related to 'splitting political donations among lawmakers' is appropriate.

According to the legal community on the 11th, the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 30 (Presiding Judges Bae Gwang-guk, Jo Jin-gu, Park Eun-young) recently dismissed the retrial petition filed by the KT Labor Human Rights Center, which challenged the prosecution's decision not to indict former Chairman Hwang. The court stated, "The prosecutor's decision not to indict is acceptable as legitimate, and there is insufficient evidence to recognize it as unjust."

Earlier, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office filed summary indictments last November against KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo (58) and 10 other KT executives on charges including violation of the Political Funds Act and embezzlement in the course of duty, while four others, including former department head Maeng Mo, who was in charge of government relations, and KT as a corporation were indicted without detention.

Maeng and others were prosecuted for allegedly creating slush funds amounting to 1.15 billion won by purchasing gift certificates with corporate funds from 2014 to 2017 and reselling them through a 'gift certificate laundering' scheme, and illegally donating approximately 440 million won to 99 lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties in 360 instances.

After the KT Labor Human Rights Center filed a joint accusation, former Chairman Hwang was cleared and not indicted. The center appealed this decision, but the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office reached the same conclusion, leading them to file a retrial petition with the court. A retrial petition is a procedure to reassess the legitimacy of the prosecution's decision not to indict; if the court accepts the petition, the prosecution must bring the suspect to trial.

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