'Bribery Conviction with Prison Sentence' Former Public Official... Court Rules "Crime Committed After Retirement, Pension Cannot Be Reduced"

Seoul Administrative Court, Seocho-gu, Seoul. / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] A court ruling has stated that pensions should not be reduced for former public officials who were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for solicitation and bribery crimes committed after retirement.

According to the court on the 5th, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 6 (Presiding Judge Lee Jooyoung) recently ruled in favor of plaintiff A, a former public official, in the first trial of the lawsuit filed against the Government Employees Pension Service to cancel the disposition of reclaiming retirement allowances and pensions.

Previously, Mr. A was promoted to a Grade 3 public official in June 2012 and retired honorably. Afterward, he worked at a certain company near the area where he had served. Investigations revealed that from July 2012 to April 2014, he performed solicitation tasks such as delivering bribes to public officials to have the company's patented bridge construction method reflected in local construction designs or to facilitate the supply of government-procured materials.

Subsequently, Mr. A received approximately 310 million KRW from the company as salary and other payments but was eventually prosecuted under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes for solicitation and received a confirmed sentence of 2 years and 6 months imprisonment in 2018. The Pension Service, according to the Government Employees Pension Act, reduced Mr. A's retirement allowance and pension by half and reclaimed an overpayment of about 67.38 million KRW.

Mr. A filed an administrative lawsuit against this disposition, arguing that "the crime was established after retiring from public office, and it is unfair to reclaim and restrict benefits on this basis."

Article 65, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 1 of the current Government Employees Pension Act stipulates that if a current or former public official is sentenced to imprisonment or higher for acts related to their duties during their tenure, retirement benefits and allowances may be reduced by up to 50%.

The first trial accepted Mr. A's claim. The court stated, "It is reasonable to consider that the crime of solicitation by the plaintiff was established after July 2012, when he began receiving money and goods in exchange for specific business solicitations following his retirement from public office," and "there appears to have been no specific investigation into whether a concrete solicitation or promise of bribe provision was made at the time of the recruitment proposal in May 2012."

Furthermore, the court ruled, "It is difficult to conclude that a concrete crime of solicitation was committed solely based on the fact that the plaintiff accepted the recruitment proposal."

The Pension Service has appealed the first trial ruling.

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