Court Rejects Request to Cancel Search and Seizure of Prosecutor in 'Alleged Report Solicitation' Case

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] A current prosecutor involved in the 'accusation manipulation' scandal challenged the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Agency (HOCI)'s seizure of evidence as illegal, but the court did not accept the objection.

According to the legal community on the 2nd, Judge Kwak Tae-hyun of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 32 dismissed the quasi-appeal filed by Prosecutor Sung Sang-wook, Human Rights Protection Officer at the Busan Western District Prosecutor's Office (former Investigation Information Officer 2 at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office), against HOCI's seizure order.

Prosecutor Sung argued that the materials presented by HOCI during his suspect interrogation last October were not notified to him or his lawyer during the seizure process, nor were his rights to participate guaranteed, and therefore the seizure order should be canceled.

The materials were reportedly collected by the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office after obtaining warrants twice in September last year. HOCI, which took over the case, seized the materials by receiving them as 'voluntary submissions.' However, Prosecutor Sung raised issues, stating that he was not notified or given the opportunity to participate regarding this.

The court stated, "Since HOCI succeeded the investigation authority of the case and received the seized items, it cannot be considered that the materials were seized by voluntary submission from the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office prosecutor." It concluded that there was no procedural problem. The court also added that since the search warrant was not executed by HOCI, the seizure order for the materials cannot be canceled on the grounds of illegality in the warrant execution procedure.

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