Prosecutors Refile Arrest Warrant for Park Cha-hoon, Saemaeul Geumgo Chairman

Scheduled for Warrant Hearing on the Afternoon of the 17th

The prosecution has reissued an arrest warrant for Park Cha-hoon, chairman of the Saemaeul Geumgo Central Association, who is suspected of accepting bribes during the fund investment and project financing (PF) loan processes. This comes seven days after the first warrant was dismissed.

Park Cha-hoon, Chairman of the National Credit Union Federation of Korea, is entering the Seoul Eastern District Court on the afternoon of the 8th to attend a pre-trial detention hearing. [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 16th, the Criminal Division 6 of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Seo Hyun-wook) filed an arrest warrant against Chairman Park on the previous day, charging him with bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. The pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant hearing) is scheduled to be held at 2:30 p.m. on the 17th at the Seoul Eastern District Court. A prosecution official explained, "The matter is serious, and there is a high risk of evidence destruction. Considering fairness with other cases, we have refiled the arrest warrant."

The prosecution re-investigated Chairman Park by summoning him on the 14th. The prosecution believes that Yoo Young-seok, former CEO of Ice Tum Partners, delivered bribes to Chairman Park through Ryu Hyuk, CEO of the Saemaeul Geumgo Central Association Credit Guarantee. On the 3rd, the prosecution detected signs of bribery involving Chairman Park, summoned him for investigation as a suspect, and on the 4th filed an arrest warrant on charges of bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

The court dismissed the arrest warrant on the 8th, stating that "the right to defense must be guaranteed." When Chairman Park appeared at the warrant hearing that day and was asked by reporters whether he admitted to the bribery charges, he replied, "No."

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