Chief Judge Who Received a 'Fake Golf Club' from an Alumnus Acquitted... Why?
Acquittal in 1st and 2nd Trials: "No Proof of Exercising Influence" - Supreme Court Agrees
A sitting chief judge, Mr. A, who was prosecuted on charges including accepting bribes through mediation after receiving counterfeit golf clubs from a businessman and middle school classmate, was acquitted by the Supreme Court. Following the first and second trials, the Supreme Court also ruled that there was no evidence that Mr. A exerted influence over the businessman’s investigation or trial, and judged the bribery charges as not guilty.
According to the legal community on the 8th, the Supreme Court’s Third Division (Presiding Justice Lee Heung-gu) upheld the original verdict acquitting Chief Judge A (56 years old), who was indicted on charges including accepting bribes through mediation and violating the Information and Communications Network Act.
In February 2019, Mr. A was prosecuted on charges of receiving goods worth a total of 780,000 KRW, including a counterfeit golf club set valued at 520,000 KRW and a fruit box worth 260,000 KRW, from businessman Mr. B, a middle school classmate. The golf clubs were secondhand items presumed to be so-called “fake products” manufactured in China. Mr. A was also accused of accessing the court case search system to look up and search Mr. B’s case after receiving requests such as “Please check if I will be detained in court on the sentencing day of the fraud case.”
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The first trial court acquitted Mr. A on the grounds that there was no evidence that he exerted influence by contacting the judges in charge of Mr. B’s case. In the second trial, the prosecution added a charge of violating the Act on the Electronic Processing of Criminal Procedures, but the court ruled that “there is insufficient evidence to recognize that he accessed criminal justice information managed by another institution or person without authorization.” The Supreme Court’s judgment was the same. The Supreme Court concluded, “There is no error in the original court’s judgment that violated the rules of logic and experience or affected the verdict by failing to conduct necessary hearings.”
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