[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The appellate court for Choi Mo (74), the mother-in-law of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, who was sentenced to prison in the first trial for illegally establishing a nursing hospital and fraudulently receiving 2.29 billion won in nursing care benefits, has been decided.
According to the legal community, on the 26th, the Seoul High Court assigned Choi's appeal case to Criminal Division 5 (Presiding Judges Yoon Kang-yeol, Park Jae-young, Kim Sang-cheol). The Seoul High Court Criminal Division 5 is a panel specializing in cases involving foreigners, food, and health.
Recently, this division handled the appeal trial of Shin Sang-cheol (62), who was prosecuted for defamation after claiming the 'Cheonan ship grounding theory' and was partially convicted in the first trial, and acquitted him.
Lee Tae-ha (68), former head of the Psychological Warfare Unit of the Republic of Korea Cyber Command, who was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison for leading the military's 'political comment' operation during the 2012 presidential election, also went through this division.
Choi was prosecuted on charges of fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes for illegally establishing a nursing hospital in February 2013 despite not being a medical professional, operating the hospital, and embezzling 2.29 billion won in nursing care benefits until 2015.
Choi's side denied the charges, claiming no involvement in the establishment or operation of the nursing hospital, but the first trial court recognized Choi's guilt, sentenced her to 3 years in prison as requested by the prosecution, and detained her in court.
Choi's side appealed, stating, "We deeply regret the court's judgment that accepted the prosecution's distorted opinion, and we cannot understand what risk of flight or evidence destruction a 75-year-old elderly person poses."
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