"A Serious Crime Shaking the Roots of Democracy"
Im Jong-seong, a former Democratic Party lawmaker who was indicted in the 'Democratic Party Money Envelope' case that occurred ahead of the 2021 Democratic Party convention, was sentenced to a suspended prison term in the first trial.
Following the guilty verdicts against Democratic Party lawmakers Heo Jong-sik, and former lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Seong-man, who were also tried for exchanging money envelopes around the same time last month, the court has continued to issue consecutive guilty rulings.
The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 27 (Presiding Judge Woo In-seong) on the 12th sentenced former lawmaker Im to three months in prison with a one-year suspension and a fine of 3 million won for violating the Political Parties Act.
During the trial, former lawmaker Im argued that the recorded files obtained from the mobile phone of former Democratic Party Deputy Secretary-General Lee Jeong-geun, which contained content related to his criminal acts, were illegally collected evidence and thus inadmissible. However, the court rejected this, pointing out that Lee voluntarily submitted his mobile phone and USB storage device to the investigation agency and consented to the use of the voluntarily submitted electronic information as evidence in other cases.
Former lawmaker Im also denied receiving the money envelope containing 3 million won on April 28, 2021, but based on phone conversations between former lawmaker Yoon Kwan-seok and former Deputy Secretary-General Lee, the court judged that Im was present at the event and received the money envelope.
In particular, the court pointed out that the name "OO" mentioned in the recorded file, saying, "Originally OO was going to refuse, but the kids saw it and said, 'Brother, since we're doing this anyway, please give us some too,' and three were taken there," refers to only one lawmaker, Im. On April 28, 2021, the only occasion when multiple lawmakers gathered at once during former lawmaker Yoon's schedule was a meeting held in the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee's small conference room inside the National Assembly in the morning, and among the lawmakers attending that meeting, Im was the only one with that name, according to the court's judgment.
The court also recognized the credibility of statements made during phone calls between the two, reasoning that former lawmaker Yoon had to explain to former Deputy Secretary-General Lee the reason why the initially prepared funds for additional money requests were insufficient, and the process of providing money envelopes to lawmakers like Im, who originally had no plans to receive them.
Furthermore, since former Deputy Secretary-General Lee could sufficiently verify whether the money envelopes were actually delivered afterward, the court judged that it was unlikely that former lawmaker Yoon lied about giving the money envelope to former lawmaker Im without actually doing so.
Regarding sentencing, the court stated, "Today's democracy is party democracy, and since the sovereign people mostly realize democracy through political parties, acts of corruption such as bribing voters with money in internal party elections distort the party's integrity and shake the roots of democracy, constituting a serious criminal act."
The court added, "The party leader elected through this party representative election was to perform duties until the 2022 presidential election, thus requiring a solemn role as the party's focal point in selecting the Democratic Party's presidential candidate and the subsequent presidential election process. The Democratic Party's party leader election is decided by the votes of national delegates, and lawmakers have considerable influence over the national delegates' choice of supported candidates and voting rights. Therefore, the defendant, a lawmaker, receiving a money envelope provided to secure Song Young-gil's election as party leader is highly blameworthy."
Former lawmaker Im was indicted for receiving a money envelope containing 3 million won from former lawmaker Yoon Kwan-seok at a meeting of lawmakers supporting former leader Song Young-gil (current leader of the Sonamu Party) on April 28, 2021, ahead of the Democratic Party convention.
Earlier, on the 30th of last month, the court sentenced Democratic Party lawmaker Heo Jong-sik, who was also indicted for receiving money envelopes, to three months in prison with a one-year suspension and a fine of 3 million won. Former lawmaker Lee Seong-man was sentenced to six months in prison with a two-year suspension for violating the Political Funds Act, and three months in prison with a two-year suspension and a fine of 3 million won for violating the Political Parties Act.
Former lawmaker Yoon, who delivered the money envelopes, was sentenced to nine months in prison with a two-year suspension. Former lawmaker Im was absent due to health reasons at the time, and the sentencing was postponed to this day.
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