Testified in Second Trial Witness Appearance
"4.3 Billion Real Estate, Even Saving Without Spending a Penny, 2 Billion Short"
"After Opening the Lid, It Was So Devastating I Wanted to Die"
Park Song-in and Park Su-hong (54) attended the second trial of their older brother Park (56) and claimed that the verdict, which found him guilty of embezzling company funds but not guilty of embezzling his own money, was "extremely unfair."
On the 10th, Park appeared at the appeal trial of his older brother and sister-in-law Lee Mo (53), held at the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 7 (Presiding Judges Lee Jae-kwon, Song Mi-kyung, Kim Seul-gi), and made these remarks.
Before attending, Park requested that a partition be installed so that he could not see his older brother and his wife, but the court did not approve the installation of the partition and instructed Park to testify accompanied by his lawyer. Park said, "I wanted to testify because I believe the first trial's verdict was unfair."
Park submitted a report from a tax agent who had observed the family's financial flow for 15 years. The report stated that the real estate acquired by the older brother and his wife from 2014 to 2017 was worth 4.3 billion KRW, an amount that could not have been purchased even if they had saved every penny of their various incomes.
Park emphasized, "They acquired real estate under their names that could never have been obtained without adding the cash withdrawn from my personal account," and "It is real estate that could not have been achieved without embezzlement over four years."
Park said, "I built all of this over 30 years, but the first trial ruled (not guilty) that because the agency was a family company, they could freely use my assets, which made me feel truly resentful."
Regarding why he entrusted property management to his older brother, Park said, "Because the entertainment industry often has disputes with agencies, I had to trust my sibling more than anyone else," and "They were very frugal and always said they lived for me, but when I opened the lid, it was so miserable I wanted to die."
Park said, "They told me it was 'financial planning for you,' but until the partnership ended, there was no real estate under my name. Only the real estate that the two of them shared 50% each."
When the older brother's lawyer raised questions about the involvement of their father and mother, Park responded, "They are my father and mother. It is not right to talk about their faults," and "I never want to be made a witness and criticized like someone else."
When his wife Kim Da-ye was mentioned, Park said, "In the first trial, they brought up my ex-lover, and now they are bringing up my wife, who has nothing to do with the embezzlement. I don't even understand this," and "I don't know if the lawyer is a former official or what experience they have, but they are insulting me by mentioning the people closest to me."
Park said, "I want severe punishment for them (the older brother and his wife) who even made their own family members into victims of a witch hunt to protect their illegal embezzlement until the very end," and "I believe we must not create a precedent that produces people who wear the mask of family but only take profits."
Park's older brother and his wife were prosecuted on charges of embezzling tens of millions of won from the company funds and Park's money while managing his management from 2011 to 2021 (embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes).
The first trial found them guilty of embezzling 2 billion KRW of company funds but not guilty of embezzling 1.6 billion KRW of Park's money and sentenced them to two years in prison. The sister-in-law Lee, who was also indicted for participating in some embezzlement, was acquitted.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
