Unpaid Foreign Car Lease Fees During Personal Rehabilitation Procedure... Acquitted in First Trial → Imprisonment in Second Trial

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] A woman in her 40s who was prosecuted for leasing a foreign car under an acquaintance's name during a personal rehabilitation process and failing to pay was sentenced to prison.

According to the court on the 19th, the Criminal Division 9 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Yang Kyungseung) overturned the original verdict of not guilty for A (42, female), who was indicted on charges of fraud, and recently sentenced her to four months in prison.

Earlier, in November 2016, A told her acquaintance B, "Since my credit is not good, if you lease a car under your name, I will pay the lease fees and transfer the ownership to you after three months."

Accordingly, B signed a lease contract for a BMW 530d with Company C under his name for 48 months, paying about 1.3 million KRW monthly, totaling approximately 62 million KRW. However, a few months later, A stopped paying the lease fees and did not transfer the ownership, leaving B to bear the costs.

According to the prosecution, A was undergoing a personal rehabilitation process with a credit rating of 8 and was in a state of credit delinquency. At that time, she had no steady income. Personal rehabilitation is a system that reduces debt burdens for individuals who have difficulty repaying debts but have some income.

A’s side denied the charges. During the trial, they claimed, "When asking the victim to sign the lease contract, there was intention and ability to pay the lease fees, and no intent to defraud," adding, "On April 14, 2017, a traffic accident occurred, causing financial difficulties, which led to the inability to pay the lease fees and transfer the ownership."

The first trial accepted A’s claim and acquitted her, but the second trial reversed the decision and sentenced her to prison. The court stated, "The defendant avoided contact with the victim and did not pay the lease fees starting from early March 2017, which was when the lease fees were due," and "The traffic accident cited as the reason for non-payment occurred a month later, so at the time of the accident, two months’ worth of lease fees had already not been paid, and the defendant was avoiding contact with the victim."

Furthermore, "If the defendant had sufficient income to cover the lease fees as claimed, there would be no reason to avoid contact with the victim and not pay the fees," and "Since the ownership transfer has not been made even after several years, it appears there was no intention to transfer ownership from the beginning," the court pointed out.

It was also revealed that A had previously asked another acquaintance to purchase an SM5 vehicle on her behalf and failed to pay the installment payments in a similar manner, resulting in unpaid related debts.

The court added, "The nature of the crime is serious, and no restitution has been made regarding the considerable amount of damages up to this appeal," and "considered various sentencing factors including the defendant’s attitude during the investigation and trial." As A has appealed, the case will be subject to the Supreme Court’s judgment.