[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Advertising director Cha Eun-taek (51), who was indicted for attempting to seize shares of an advertising company by participating in the 'state affairs manipulation' scandal, received a reduced sentence in the retrial.
The Criminal Division 13 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Gu Hoe-geun, Lee Jun-young, Choi Sung-bo) on the 14th overturned the original sentence of 3 years imprisonment for Cha, who was charged with violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (embezzlement), and sentenced him to 2 years imprisonment.
The court stated, "The Supreme Court ruled that the previously recognized guilt regarding the charge of coercion was incorrect and acquitted him. We also follow this ruling and judge the coercion charge as not guilty."
It added, "Regarding sentencing, we considered the change of the coercion charge to not guilty and the fact that the defendant had previously served a little over 2 years in prison."
Cha was indicted on charges of attempting but failing to pressure the representative of an advertising company, who was selected as the preferred negotiation partner when POSCO tried to sell its affiliate advertising company Foreca in 2015, to transfer shares.
He is also accused of collaborating with former President Park Geun-hye and former Blue House Policy Coordination Secretary Ahn Jong-beom to have KT hire his acquaintance and to have an advertising company established by Choi Seo-won (formerly Choi Soon-sil) selected as the advertising agency, as well as embezzling about 2 billion won of company funds.
The first and second trials sentenced Cha to 3 years imprisonment.
However, the Supreme Court found the original ruling guilty on the coercion charge to be incorrect and sent the case back to the Seoul High Court.
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