Daegu District Prosecutors' Office Tracks and Recovers Hidden Criminal Proceeds One After Another

The prosecution discovered criminal proceeds that had been concealed under long-term borrowed names and recovered them through persistent civil lawsuits.

According to the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office on the 24th, they filed a lawsuit against A (female, 59), who was sentenced to 5 years in prison and fined 1.2 billion KRW in 2016 for embezzlement after issuing negotiable certificates of deposit for about 3.2 billion KRW kept in accounts of a fraudulent company operated by Cho Hee-pal, a swindler worth trillions of won in October 2008, and sharing it with two accomplices, but had not paid the fine for 6 years. They received a settlement recommendation decision to collect 128 million KRW plus delayed interest.

The prosecution confirmed that Ms. A purchased an apartment in 2014 under a relative's name and last year filed a provisional seizure on the apartment, then filed a lawsuit against the relative, the apartment's registered owner, to claim the return of unjust enrichment.

Also, they confirmed that B (53), the head of a violent organization in the Daegu area, operated 18 illegal game rooms from May 2009 to February 2012, collecting a total of about 1.3 billion KRW in operating profits, and was sentenced in 2013 to 4 years in prison and fined 1.37 billion KRW, but had not paid the fine for 10 years. The prosecution confirmed that around 2010, B purchased an apartment at auction under his wife's name and paid the auction price with the illegal game room profits.

The prosecution filed a creditor subrogation lawsuit last year at the Daegu District Court against B's wife to cancel the name trust and restore ownership registration of the apartment to B, enabling compulsory execution on the apartment.

During the lawsuit, the prosecution proved that B's wife had no significant income and that the full auction payment was made from the account managing the illegal game room profits, receiving a judgment in favor of full victory. Once the judgment is finalized, the prosecution plans to enforce about 350 million KRW of fines through compulsory execution on this apartment.

Since July 2021, the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office has established a ‘Dedicated Team for Execution of Criminal Proceeds and High-Value Fine Collection’ to investigate money laundering crimes and track criminal proceeds and illegal assets.

A Daegu District Prosecutors' Office official said, “We will track criminal proceeds to the end and actively file lawsuits to fundamentally block the motivation to commit crimes.”

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