Former Ansan Mayor Park Joo-won Sentenced to Prison for Perjury Coaching as Witness in Fraud Trial... Taken into Custody in Court

Former Ansan Mayor of Gyeonggi Province, Park Juwon, was sentenced to prison and taken into custody for instructing perjury during his trial on fraud charges.

According to the legal community on the 14th, the Suwon District Court Criminal Division 9 sentenced former Mayor Park, who was indicted without detention on charges of instructing perjury the previous day, to 10 months in prison and took him into custody in court.

The court also sentenced three others, who were jointly indicted for committing perjury as witnesses in court after being instructed by former Mayor Ahn, to six months in prison each and took them into custody.

Park, who served as the mayor of Ansan from 2006 to 2010, was indicted on charges of defrauding a victim, Mr. A, of approximately 660 million won over nine occasions in ten months, including 200 million won by deceiving him in September 2015 with the claim, "You need money to obtain approval for a wind power project in Taebaek, Gangwon Province. Once approved, the money will be returned." Investigations revealed that Park used most of the money received from Mr. A for personal purposes such as debt repayment.

In August 2021, the first-instance court sentenced Park to two years in prison with a three-year probation period.

At that time, the court stated, "The amount defrauded is large, and during the crime, the defendant implicitly or explicitly flaunted his political status and connections, reinforcing the victim's mistaken belief, which reflects poorly on the nature of the crime. A significant portion of the defrauded money was received under the pretext of delivering it to public officials for permits related to the wind power project. The defendant, who should be well aware of the importance of social trust in the integrity and transparency of government institutions, is difficult to excuse for defrauding money under such pretenses."

During the second trial following Park’s appeal, it was investigated that he coached witnesses to commit perjury by rehearsing their testimonies and having them give false statements in court.

The three individuals who were sentenced to prison the previous day on perjury charges were indicted without detention for perjuring themselves in court in March 2022 by falsely testifying that the money was a loan, not lobbying funds, or that 20 million won was an investment, not a payment for resolving complaints.

Despite this perjury, the appellate court in April 2022 upheld the first-instance court’s decision, dismissing Park’s appeal.

The court stated, "The defendant repeatedly deceived the purpose of the funds and defrauded money, which is a serious offense, and the amount involved is large. Considering all sentencing factors presented in the case records and arguments, it is difficult to view the original sentence as excessively harsh or unfair."

In July 2022, the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Park on charges of instructing perjury and the three individuals on charges of perjury, all without detention.

Meanwhile, in February last year, Park’s two-year prison sentence with a three-year probation for fraud was finalized. Previously, Park was arrested and indicted on charges of receiving 130 million won from a construction company representative between April and June 2007, ahead of the selection of the preferred negotiator for the Sadong complex development project in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province (bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes). He was sentenced to six years in prison in the second trial but was acquitted in February 2013 after the Supreme Court overturned the conviction and remanded the case for retrial.