Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office Indicts 18 in Broker Case Involving Investigation Interference and Police Personnel Requests

On the 14th, the prosecution investigating the case of broker A in the Gwangju area involving 'investigation cover-up and police personnel intervention' additionally indicted four current police officials, including a current police commissioner.

With this, the total number of defendants indicted in this case, including current and former police executives, has increased to 18. Among them, 10 were brought to trial while in custody.

The prosecution stated that through this investigation, the reality of bribery and corruption in police personnel affairs, which had been rife with rumors, was revealed.

The Anti-Corruption and Strong Investigation Division of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Jin-ho) on the same day indicted current police commissioner B, who received 10 million won for personnel requests, and current police inspector C, who handed over 10 million won to the broker under the pretext of promotion requests, on charges of bribery and third-party bribery, respectively, without detention.

Also on the same day, the prosecution indicted current police superintendent D, who received goods and entertainment worth about 6.4 million won in exchange for a request to cover up an ongoing investigation at a police station in Gwangju, on charges of bribery without detention, and current police inspector E, who leaked related investigation information, on charges of official secret leakage without detention.

Earlier, in August last year, A was arrested and indicted on charges including violation of the Attorney-at-Law Act and bribery for receiving 1.8 billion won from a suspect under police investigation for a cryptocurrency-related fraud case between August 2020 and August 2021 under the pretext of investigation cover-up. Another broker, F, who received 315.5 million won from the same suspect, was also arrested and indicted together with A.

In addition to the two brokers, through this investigation, one former police officer and one current prosecution investigator who received money from these brokers under the pretext of resolving ongoing cases and providing investigation information were arrested and indicted, and three current prosecution and police investigators who informed them of the investigation progress were indicted without detention.

Furthermore, six current police officers who bribed the provincial police chief under the pretext of promotion requests, three former police officers involved in the bribery delivery process, one businessman, one broker, and one current police commissioner who received bribes?a total of 12 people?were also brought to trial.

Among them, former police inspector G, who received 115 million won from four people under the pretext of promotion requests, was arrested and indicted in November last year and additionally indicted on the 26th of last month, bringing the total number of defendants handed over to the prosecution to 18.

A prosecution official said, "A, who was active as a broker in the Gwangju and Jeonnam areas, formed and maintained close relationships by providing golf entertainment, hospitality, and pocket money to dozens of current and former police officers. As a result, even current senior superintendents and police commissioners called A 'hyungnim' (older brother), and A used this to exert enormous influence in the Gwangju and Jeonnam regions."

The investigation also confirmed that brokers were involved in police personnel affairs and large sums of bribes were exchanged.

The prosecution official added, "In the case of promotion evaluations, which account for 50% of total promotions, promotion is determined subjectively by 'aptitude scores' as long as candidates are within the fivefold promotion quota, so the influence of the provincial police chief, who holds personnel authority, is inevitably enormous. Because of this structure, every personnel season, promotion brokers try to exploit the promotion evaluation system through personal connections with the personnel authority, and rumors of large bribes being exchanged in the process were rampant."

He continued, "During the investigation of broker A, the prosecution detected clues about police personnel corruption and indicted a total of 12 people involved in personnel misconduct, including three current police officers who bribed the provincial police chief and three brokers who were arrested and indicted."

The official explained, "Specifically, between 2021 and 2022, some police officers in the Gwangju and Jeonnam Police Agency who were about to be promoted delivered bribes ranging from 10 million to 20 million won for promotion to police inspector and 20 million to 30 million won for promotion to police superintendent through brokers such as A, who had personal connections with the personnel authority. Moreover, it was confirmed that some promotion candidates who received bribes were promoted by reversing their original rankings during the promotion evaluation process, revealing the reality of bribery and corruption that had only been rumors."

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