Dismissed After Suwon District Court Review "No Risk of Evidence Tampering"
Police Considering Reapplication for Warrant
Alleged Leading of Slush Fund Creation with 'Arowana Token'
Kim Sang-cheol, chairman of Hancom, who is accused of raising slush funds through cryptocurrency, avoided detention.
Kim Sang-cheol, chairman of Hancom, who was charged with creating slush funds and had a pre-arrest warrant requested, is leaving the court after completing the pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant substantive examination) held at the Suwon District Court Seongnam Branch on the 18th. [Image source=Yonhap News]
On the 18th, Kim Se-hyun, the chief judge in charge of warrants at the Suwon District Court Seongnam Branch, conducted a pre-arrest detention hearing (warrant substantive examination) for Chairman Kim, who is accused of breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, and dismissed the arrest warrant.
Judge Kim stated the reason for dismissing the warrant, saying, "Regarding breach of trust, there is a need to guarantee the right to defense, and extensive evidence investigation on accomplices has been conducted, so there is no concern of evidence destruction," and "Considering residence, age, and family relations, there is no risk of flight." He added, "Regarding the other charges, he generally admits them, and considering that the damage has been recovered."
The police, who applied for a pre-arrest warrant for Chairman Kim at the end of last month, plan to review whether to reapply for the warrant later.
Chairman Kim is accused of leading the entire case of raising slush funds through 'Arowana Token.' Arowana Token is a cryptocurrency invested in by Hancom With, a blockchain specialized company affiliated with the Hancom Group.
Arowana Tech, a cryptocurrency management company acquired with funds from the Hancom Group, issued a total of 500 million Arowana Tokens and promoted them as virtual assets usable on six major digital financial business platforms.
Currently delisted, Arowana Token soared from its initial trading price of 50 won on April 20, 2021, to 53,800 won, a 1,075-fold increase (10,750,000%), within 30 minutes of its first listing, raising suspicions of price manipulation. Along with this, allegations were raised that Chairman Kim raised nearly 10 billion won in slush funds using Arowana Token.
After investigating the case, the police concluded at the end of last month that they had proven Chairman Kim's charges and applied for a pre-arrest warrant. Kim's son (second son), Kim Mo (35), who is also an inside director of Hancom With and an accomplice in the case, and Jeong Mo (48), CEO of the cryptocurrency management company Arowana Tech, were sentenced to three years and two years and six months in prison, respectively, in the first trial.
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