Court Issues Additional Arrest Warrant for Jo Beom-dong, 'Jo Guk's 5th Cousin' (Comprehensive)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The court has issued an additional arrest warrant for Cho Beom-dong, the fifth cousin of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk.

According to the legal community on the 1st, the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 24 (Chief Judge So Byeong-seok), which is handling Cho's case, issued an additional arrest warrant for Cho in the afternoon. The court stated the reason for issuing the warrant was "risk of flight."

Earlier, the prosecution requested the court to issue an additional arrest warrant for Cho regarding charges of embezzlement and other offenses, which were additionally indicted last December.

The court conducted a closed hearing on the additional arrest warrant for Cho on the 30th of last month and issued the warrant on the day before the expiration of the detention period.

With the issuance of the additional arrest warrant, Cho's detention period will be extended from the 2nd to a maximum of six months (until October 2).

Previously, Cho was arrested and indicted on October 3 last year on charges including violation of the Capital Markets Act, embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, breach of trust, and instructing evidence concealment.

Cho is accused of falsely disclosing 5 billion KRW in stock shares acquired using private loans as equity capital, and despite no actual funds flowing into the company, issuing 15 billion KRW in convertible bonds to fabricate the appearance of investment inflow and attempt to boost the stock price (false disclosure and unfair trading under the Capital Markets Act).

He is also charged with misappropriating a total of 7.2 billion KRW of company funds, including embezzled amounts.

Following suspicions related to private equity funds, Cho is also accused of deleting or hiding files from the office of the private equity fund operator, Korink Private Equity, and his home computer, as well as coordinating statements with related parties (instructing evidence destruction and concealment).

Cho has played a de facto representative role in Korink, the private equity fund operator in which former Minister Cho Kuk's wife, Professor Jung Kyung-shim of Dongyang University, and their two children invested 1.4 billion KRW.