Cha Gyu-geun, former head of the Immigration and Foreign Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Justice (currently a research fellow at the Judicial Research and Training Institute), who was acquitted in the first trial after being indicted on charges of involvement in the illegal travel ban against former Deputy Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui, has filed a complaint with the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (HOCI) against the prosecutors who handled Kim's first investigation.
Park Dong-hoon, attorney at Law Firm Rowon and representative of Cha, stated on the 12th, "We have filed a complaint with HOCI against former and current prosecutors involved in Kim's first investigation (2013) on charges of special dereliction of duty under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (hereinafter referred to as the Special Act)."
Cha Gyugeun, former Director of the Immigration and Foreign Policy Headquarters at the Ministry of Justice.
Attorney Park explained, "Article 15 of the Special Act stipulates that 'a public official engaged in criminal investigation duties who becomes aware of a person committing a crime specified in this Act and neglects their duties shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one year.' In 2019, the prosecution's reinvestigation team indicted Kim Hak-ui for violation of the Special Act (bribery) and Yoon Joong-chun for violation of the Special Act (mediation bribery), among others. All their charges were crimes specified under the Special Act."
He added, "The complaint alleges that the accused, as prosecutors engaged in criminal investigation duties, knew in 2013 that Kim Hak-ui and Yoon Joong-chun had committed crimes specified under the Special Act but neglected their duties by failing to investigate the related crimes."
Attorney Park further stated, "According to related rulings and documents, in 2013, substantial human and material evidence regarding Kim Hak-ui's and Yoon Joong-chun's bribery and mediation bribery offenses under the Special Act had been secured through police investigations. Former Prosecutor General Moon Moo-il said at a press conference on June 25, 2019, 'The Kim Hak-ui case is embarrassing, but it is even more embarrassing that the past investigation failed to uncover the truth. The prosecutors did not fulfill their duties as prosecutors.' Additionally, Yoon Joong-chun testified on October 21, 2022, during the so-called travel ban case trial, stating, 'During the police investigation, I said I didn’t know. After being detained, during the prosecution investigation, I told the truth about everything at that time. But the prosecution covered up everything I said,' which forms the basis of the complaint."
In July 2013, the police forwarded Kim and Yoon to the prosecution on charges including special rape, based on a sex bribery video filmed at Yoon’s villa and testimonies from victimized women. However, in November of the same year, the prosecution closed the case without charges.
During the 2019 reinvestigation, the prosecution indicted former Deputy Minister Kim on bribery charges under the Special Act and Yoon on charges including mediation bribery under the Special Act. The sexual bribery received by Kim was included as part of the bribery charges in the indictment.
Former Deputy Minister Kim was acquitted and exempted from prosecution last year, citing the expiration of the statute of limitations on some bribery charges and changes in testimony by Choi. Yoon was sentenced to five years and six months in prison in 2020, a sentence that was finalized.
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