Supreme Court to Reassess Legality of Public Corruption Investigation Office's Search and Seizure of Son Junseong

Son Junsung, Head of the Litigation Department at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, is attending a trial related to allegations of instigating a complaint at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on October 24 last year. Photo by Kang Jinhyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Regarding the 'accusation manipulation' suspicion, the Supreme Court made a partial remand decision on the legality of the High-ranking Officials' Crimes Investigation Division (PCC) conducting a search and seizure against Son Junsung, head of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office Litigation Department.

On the 12th, the Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Lee Dongwon) ruled that the lower court's judgment, which found the PCC's search and seizure against Head Son lawful, was partially incorrect, stating, "The lower court erred in dismissing the petition on the grounds that the PCC prosecutor designated as the subject of the search and seizure did not actually carry out the search and seizure," and sent the case back to the Seoul Central District Court.

The court pointed out, "The list of investigation records in the main case includes several search warrants executed by both the PCC and the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office," and added, "The petitioner should have been given the opportunity to specifically and individually identify the contested search and seizure orders by exercising the right to request clarification."

Regarding the Supreme Court's ruling that day, a PCC official explained, "It is understood that the court found some of the searches conducted by the PCC to be lawful. However, the remand was made because the lower court did not substantively assess the illegality of the searches conducted by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office."

Earlier, in relation to the 'accusation manipulation' suspicion, the PCC conducted searches against Head Son at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Inspection Department, Investigation Information Office, and Information and Communications Division from September to November 2021.

Head Son raised objections, stating, "The searches executed by the PCC on emails, messenger records, and Criminal Justice Information System search records did not follow the notification procedures for the suspect's participation, and were carried out completely excluding the participation rights of the suspect or their lawyer." A petition for review is a system where one contests a disposition such as a search and seizure by an investigative agency in court.

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 31 Judge Jo Janghwan, who reviewed the petition, dismissed it in July last year. Head Son appealed this decision.

The 'accusation manipulation' suspicion refers to allegations that in April 2020, ahead of the general election, the prosecution instructed the opposition party, the United Future Party (predecessor of the People Power Party), to file accusations against pro-government figures.

Son Junsung, who was the Investigation Information Policy Officer at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, was indicted on charges of transmitting images related to accusation documents concerning pro-government figures such as Representative Choi, a proportional representation candidate of the Open Democratic Party, and Yoo Si-min, then chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, to Kim Woong, then a candidate for the United Future Party, via the Telegram messenger.