Prosecution Adds Charges Against Kwon Bo-gun, CSO of 'Merge Plus', for Evidence Tampering Instruction

Embezzlement After Acquaintances Falsely Draft Loan Agreements

Amid concerns over significant losses for many affiliated individual business owners, excluding large retail corporations prepared for compensation due to the massive refund crisis of the payment platform Merge Point, the headquarters of 'Merge Point' in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on the 18th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] The prosecution has additionally indicted Kwon Bo-gun, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO, 35) of Merge Plus, the operator of 'Merge Point,' which caused damage worth hundreds of billions of won due to a refund suspension incident, on charges of instructing evidence forgery.

On the 16th, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office trial division (Chief Prosecutor Gong Jun-hyuk) announced that it had additionally indicted CSO Kwon on charges of instructing evidence forgery the previous day. Two acquaintances of CSO Kwon, Mr. A (60) and Mr. B (26), were also indicted without detention on charges of evidence forgery.

CSO Kwon is accused of embezzling 600 million won by fabricating that he lent the money to acquaintances Mr. A (60) and Mr. B (26) to avoid detention during the investigation of the Merge Plus incident, in which he was indicted on charges including violation of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, fraud, and embezzlement.

According to the prosecution's investigation, CSO Kwon had Mr. A prepare a false IOU as if lending money for his child's study abroad expenses and Mr. B for a deposit.

Mr. A is also accused of perjury favorable to CSO Kwon by testifying in court that "the IOU was prepared before the investigation and the money was used as company funds, not for the child's study abroad expenses."

The prosecution detected signs of evidence forgery during the trial of the Merge Plus incident and uncovered additional criminal acts by CSO Kwon based on witness examinations and financial data analysis.

Accordingly, the prosecution plans to actively reflect this criminal act as a sentencing factor in the upcoming appeal trial of the Merge Plus incident.

Previously, the first trial court sentenced CSO Kwon to eight years in prison and ordered the confiscation of approximately 5.33165 billion won. Both the prosecution and CSO Kwon filed appeals on the 15th, citing unfair sentencing.

A prosecution official stated, "We will continue to respond strictly to perjury and evidence forgery offenders who disrupt judicial order and strive to establish proper judicial justice."

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