Court: "Difficult to See Risk of Evidence Tampering or Flight"
The arrest warrant requested by the prosecution for Kim Ki-yu, former chairman of the Taekwang Group Management Council (age 69), who is under investigation for ordering improper loans worth around 15 billion won to executives of affiliated companies, was once again rejected by the court.
On the 21st, Lee Soon-hyung, the warrant judge at the Seoul Western District Court, dismissed the arrest warrant requested by the prosecution after conducting a pre-arrest interrogation (warrant review) of Kim, who is accused of breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. Judge Lee stated, "The suspect has a fixed residence, and it is difficult to see any risk of evidence destruction or flight."
This is the second time Kim's arrest warrant has been dismissed, following the first rejection on the 4th of last month. After supplementary investigations, the prosecution requested an arrest warrant again on the 19th, but the court once again did not recognize the necessity of detention.
Kim's lawyer, upon attending the warrant hearing that morning, responded to reporters asking whether Kim admitted the charges by saying, "He does not admit them."
Kim is accused of ordering Lee (age 58), the CEO of Goryeo and Yegaram Savings Banks, affiliated companies of the group, to execute loans worth approximately 15 billion won in August last year at the request of his acquaintance, Lee (age 65), the CEO of a real estate development company. At that time, Lee was reportedly in a situation where it was difficult to obtain additional loans from other financial institutions, but the loan was forcibly executed at Kim's demand.
The prosecution began investigating in November last year after receiving a report from a law firm conducting an external audit of Taekwang Group. Lee and others were indicted in July this year and are currently on trial.
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