Former Police Executive Who Accepted Investigation Bribes Sentenced to Prison in Appeal Trial

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] A former police officer who was prosecuted for receiving bribes worth about 40 million won along with investigation requests was detained in court during the appeal trial.

According to the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office on the 19th, the Seoul High Court recently sentenced A (51), a former sergeant of the Incheon Jungbu Police Station, who was indicted on charges of bribery and mediation, to 1 year and 6 months in prison and a fine of 20 million won.

In addition, A was ordered to pay a fine of 39.7 million won, and the first trial court's decision to grant bail was revoked, resulting in his detention in court. Earlier, on February, the first trial court sentenced A to 2 years in prison but maintained his bail status considering the guarantee of defense rights.

A was indicted on charges of receiving 10 million won along with a request while directly handling a complaint case of B (48), whom he had known for some time, while working at a police station in Incheon on August 9, 2016.

Two years later, in September 2018, when an employee of B's company was arrested for a drug case, it was revealed that A received 2 million won from B, saying, "I will deliver it to the police officer in charge of the case."

Subsequently, in November 2019 and February last year, A also received 4 million won and 3.7 million won respectively from another acquaintance, C (64), for travel expenses to Uzbekistan and Nepal.

Later, when C was investigated by the police for fraud charges in June 2000, A was found to have received 20 million won from him and requested the police officer in charge to cancel C's detention. It was confirmed that the total amount of money A received from 2016 to 2020 was 39.7 million won.

An official from the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office stated, "A seriously undermined the fairness of the investigation by receiving money under the pretext of providing convenience for cases he investigated and requesting investigations from fellow police officers."

He added, "The prosecutor who indicted A attended the appeal trial for over a year, conducted witness and defendant examinations, and submitted a written opinion summarizing the issues. Regarding key evidence such as recorded files, evidence investigations were also conducted, leading to the detention in court."

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