hankyoreh

By Kim Nam-il

Former Chief Prosecutor Park Ki-joon of the Busan District Prosecutors’ Office, 52, was named the central figure in the prosecutors and sponsors scandal and its originator. This was in the text of the announcement of the findings of special prosecutor Min Kyung-shik’s investigation team, which has been looking into suspicions that a businessman was “sponsoring” prosecutors and investigators in the Busan area. The team, however, did not move against him, and instead said Tuesday that it would indict Han Seung-chul, 47, chief inspector of the Supreme Prosecutors Office, on charges of taking bribes and dereliction of duty. The team also decided to indict a Mr. Kim, 46, and Mr. Jeong, 49, two serving chief prosecutors, for taking bribes, and Mr. Lee, 35, a prosecutor, for dereliction of duty. The only people who will be tried are the people who were introduced to Mr. Jeong, 51, the former president of a construction company who “sponsored” local prosecutors, by Park.

In their announcement, the special prosecutorial team did not press charges against Park, and said the fact that he received bribes had nothing to do with his duties and that the statute of limitations had passed. The team also decided not to charge him with dereliction of duty, noting that he did not conceal that Jeong had made a petition, and instructed that it be formally received, and even if this was not reported to above, he could not be charged with a crime.

On the other hand, Han was charged with receiving from Jeong dinner and entertainment valued at 1.4 million Won ($1,223) and an additional 1 million Won in cash in March of last year. Han is also suspected of failing to report a complaint and petition about himself by Jeong to the prosecutor-general in January, instead sending it down to the Busan district prosecutor to be handled. Han‘s name and offenses were listed in the report.

The special prosecutors said in the case of chief prosecutors Kim and Jeong, the two men influenced the handling of “sponsor” Jeong’s case. They reportedly did so by instructing investigators by phone to closely examine the records of the investigation into Jeong, as the suspect was complaining the charges were unfair in March of last year. This was after Jeong had treated prosecutors to entertainment.

During a joint civilian-prosecutorial investigation in June, Kim acknowledged he had accepted access to sexual favors. However, the special prosecutor did not press charges, saying Kim denied accepting charges and the sex worker stated she could not remember the incident.

The special prosecutorial team explained that they would criminally punish anyone who intervened into Jeong‘s case after receiving entertainment from him, regardless of the scope of their intervention. During the joint civilian-prosecutorial investigation in June, Park and the six serving prosecutors revealed they accepted entertainment from Jeong and intervened in his case. However, since the amounts were deemed insignificant, it was decided they be recommended for discipline for dereliction of duty rather than be charged criminally. Within and outside of the prosecutor’s office, however, there is surprise regarding Park being excluded from the list of the indicted.

There is also criticism regarding a lack of consistency in applying the law. Both Park and Han failed to report Jeong’s petition to their superiors, but only Han was charged with dereliction of duty. Moreover, while the prosecutors were indicted for taking bribes, Jeong, who did the bribing, was not booked. This leads to suspicions that Jeong plea-bargained.

On the other hand, a Mr. Park, a businessman who bribed prosecutorial investigators, was during the investigation already charged with handing out bribes. The special investigation that began with an MBC “PD Notebook” episode entitled “Prosecutors and Sponsors” in April, was brought to an end with a woefully insufficient 19-page investigation result announcement.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]