Supreme Court Confirms Guilt of City Hall Employee Who Purchased Land Using Information Acquired Through Official Duties

Supreme Court, Seocho-dong, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The conviction of a former public official who acquired real estate under the names of his wife and nephew using information obtained while working in the city planning department of the city hall has been finalized.

The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Ahn Cheol-sang) announced on the 6th that it upheld the original sentence of 1 year and 6 months imprisonment and ordered the confiscation of 487.45 million KRW in the final appeal trial of Mr. A, who was charged with violating the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Act and the Real Name Real Estate Act.

The court stated the reason for dismissing the appeal was that "there was no error in the lower court's judgment that violated the rules of logic and experience, exceeded the limits of free evaluation of evidence, or misinterpreted the legal principles regarding 'use of secrets learned during official duties' under the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Act, or the calculation of confiscation and seizure amounts."

Mr. A, who worked as a section chief in the city planning department of Yeongcheon City Hall, Gyeongbuk, between 2018 and 2019, was charged with using information obtained during his duties?such as detailed route plans for road construction projects, timing of compensation for expropriated land, and compensation amounts?to purchase land and buildings included in the construction sections under the names of his wife and nephew for profit.

At the time of Mr. A's offense, Article 7-2 of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Act (Prohibition on Use of Official Secrets by Public Officials) stipulated that "public officials shall not use secrets learned during the performance of their duties to obtain property or financial benefits for themselves or allow third parties to obtain such benefits."

Also, Article 86, Paragraph 1 of the same law (Crime of Using Official Secrets) prescribed that "if a public official violates Article 7-2, they shall be punished by imprisonment for up to 7 years or a fine of up to 70 million KRW."

Mr. A was also charged with violating the Real Name Real Estate Act for registering land and buildings he purchased under the name of his nephew according to a nominal trust agreement.

In court, Mr. A's side argued that he only learned the 'detailed route plans' of the road construction project during his duties and did not know the 'timing of compensation' or 'compensation amounts,' so these latter details could not be considered secrets learned during official duties. They also claimed that for some of the real estate he purchased, the announcement of the road construction compensation plan was made before the purchase, thus losing confidentiality.

However, both the first and second trials found Mr. A guilty of all charges. The second trial pointed out that the first trial omitted some of the compensation amounts Mr. A received and increased the confiscation amount by 7.9145 million KRW.

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