Ulsan Coast Guard Conducts 'Search and Seizure' Ignoring Procedures on Promising Changwon SME

Presenting a copy instead of the original warrant, taking trade secrets of items not listed
Threatening employees with personal disadvantages
Company files complaint with Changwon District Prosecutors' Office; chief and 5 investigators booked as sus

S, a promising small and medium-sized enterprise in the Changwon area of Gyeongnam, is raising concerns that it is facing difficulties in business operations due to unreasonable investigations and searches conducted by the Ulsan Coast Guard, sparking controversy.

On the 4th, S submitted a complaint to the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office against the Ulsan Coast Guard Chief and five other officers for seven legal violations, and they have been registered as suspects.

According to S, the incident was triggered when the initial accuser filed a fraud charge (under the Special Act on Criminal Cases) claiming serious problems with the products supplied, despite there being no issues with the devices produced and sold by its subsidiary.

Subsequently, the Ulsan Coast Guard initiated an investigation based solely on the accuser's statements, and misconduct ignoring proper procedures was revealed during the search and seizure process.

S stated, “During the search and seizure on June 7, items not listed on the seizure list were taken, including 54 foreign exchange bank accounts, 26 foreign exchange bank cards, 96 seals, activated carbon, cartridges, and so on, as well as emails and electronic data from PCs that were not on the list.” They added, “Although the search warrant limited electronic data to the years 2016 to 2017, the investigators disregarded this and took 1,458 electronic data files from 51 PCs.”

They further said, “Instead of taking copies of the materials, they took the originals containing the company’s top-level trade secrets.”

In particular, it is known that the Ulsan Coast Guard investigation team conducted the search and seizure by showing copies of the search warrant rather than presenting the original warrant.

Two Ulsan Coast Guard investigators have been registered and are under investigation by the Gyeongnam Police Agency’s investigation department on charges of special intimidation. On June 9, investigators B and C sent threatening text messages to S employees J and L, stating, “If you continue not to respond, you may face personal disadvantages.” Then, on the 12th, they visited the company and said, “Why aren’t you answering the phone? It took me an hour and 30 minutes to get here,” while delivering a summons. The two investigators further adopted a high-handed attitude by saying, “If you refuse, we will take measures,” causing anxiety and fear in the employees that they might be detained. These employees have been receiving psychiatric treatment for nearly two months.

On June 19, S filed a quasi-appeal with the Changwon District Court requesting the cancellation of the seizure. The quasi-appeal mentioned that the warrant number 2023-3544-1 on the search and seizure verification warrant was the same as that of another quasi-appellant. The Coast Guard deleted parts of the warrant and conducted searches in three locations under the same warrant number. Ultimately, it was revealed that the three copies of the search warrants issued by the court all had the same number.

Regarding this, a Coast Guard official stated, “We did not threaten the employees. It was necessary for the investigation,” and added, “The original search warrant was shown.”

An S representative said, “If you look at the search warrant, many facts such as the contract dates for the items are inaccurately stated, and it contains many unacceptable points based solely on the unilateral claims of the informant.”

The CEO of S said, “As a promising small and medium-sized enterprise actively expanding its business related to government policy projects and a venture company with environmental technology, we are facing difficulties in management due to the excessive search and seizure triggered by the malicious statements of the informant. Incorrect information has also spread to companies related to S, causing double hardship.”

An investigator from the Ulsan Coast Guard who has been registered as a suspect said, “It is difficult to directly respond to the issues that occurred during the search and seizure process.”

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