"Know the Gangster Well" Victim of Police Coercive Investigation Acquitted in First Trial

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Victims of police coercive investigations were acquitted in the first trial of an insurance fraud case after three years of ups and downs.

On the 25th, according to the legal community, the Gwangju District Court Criminal Division 8 (Chief Judge Park Sang-soo) acquitted four people, including Kim, who were indicted for violating the Special Act on the Prevention of Insurance Fraud.

They were prosecuted on charges of deliberately causing traffic accidents between 2017 and 2018 and falsely pretending to be hospitalized at a Korean medicine hospital to obtain a total of about 19 million won in insurance money from insurance companies.

During the police investigation, they were subjected to coercive investigations due to confession demands and inappropriate language by an investigator (currently affiliated with the Western Police Station).

At that time, the investigator made inappropriate remarks while interrogating a co-defendant who was currently not prosecuted, such as "I will completely sweep your older brother's company," "You little brat have no manners," and "I also had a good time in Sinan. The gangsters in Mokpo are all my seniors."

Subsequently, in November 2019, the investigator received a non-disciplinary warning from the disciplinary committee for violating the National Public Officials Act. This is not a disciplinary action but only a cautionary warning.

Kim, who was identified as the main culprit, said in his final statement, "The investigator, who had a senior-junior relationship with an insurance company employee from high school, conducted an investigation called 'recognition investigation' by interrogating acquaintances and family members around the defendant in what is called a 'fishing expedition'."

He claimed, "Most of the insurance company's criminal acts had no substance, and despite multiple investigations and digital forensic examinations of mobile phones, there was no evidence or concrete facts proving the crime."

He continued, "From the moment the police wrote the interrogation record, I was confirmed as a criminal by a one-sided judgment in the name of public authority," expressing his frustration.

Finally, he emphasized, "My family was destroyed because of this case related to (telling my spouse that I was seeing another woman). As the head of a family, a father of one child, and a husband, I earnestly hope to return to a harmonious family as before."

The court explained, "Although there are some interrogation records in which the defendants confessed to parts of the charges, these were due to the investigator's coercion for false confessions, and co-defendants denied the contents, so these have no evidentiary value."

It also judged, "Based solely on the evidence submitted by the prosecution, it is insufficient to conclude beyond reasonable doubt that all the defendants' traffic accidents were intentional or that the hospitalizations were false."

Meanwhile, among the defendants, some have filed lawsuits against the investigator for damages in court and are currently in dispute, and some have received partial favorable rulings ordering the payment of 1 to 2 million won in consolation money.