Court: "Difficult to Recognize the Necessity of Detention"
The third arrest warrant for Koo Young-bae, CEO of Qoo10, was dismissed.
On the 20th, Shin Young-hee, the chief judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, dismissed the arrest warrant after conducting a pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant substantive examination) for CEO Koo.
Judge Shin stated, "Considering the circumstances of the case, the charges, the evidence secured so far, the attitude during the investigation and interrogation, and the residential situation, it is difficult to recognize the grounds, necessity, and appropriateness of detention."
Gu Young-bae, CEO of Qoo10 Group, who was identified as the key suspect triggering the large-scale unpaid settlement incident at Tmon and Wemakeprice, is attending a pre-arrest suspect hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on October 10. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@
The Public Investigation Division 3 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office requested an arrest warrant for CEO Koo on charges of violating the Labor Standards Act and the Employee Retirement Benefit Security Act, following an application from the Gangnam branch of the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office. CEO Koo is accused of failing to pay wages and retirement benefits amounting to over 20 billion won to employees of Qoo10's subsidiary Qoo10 Technology and affiliated companies TMON and WEMAKEPRICE.
In October this year, 51 former employees of Qoo10 Tech filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labor against CEO Koo and Kim Hyo-jong, CEO of Qoo10 Technology, for violations of the Labor Standards Act and the Employee Retirement Benefit Security Act. Previously, CEO Koo was indicted without detention on charges of breach of trust, embezzlement, and fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, along with Ryu Kwang-jin, CEO of TMON, and Ryu Hwa-hyun, CEO of WEMAKEPRICE.
They are accused of embezzling settlement payments worth approximately 1.85 trillion won from sellers on TMON and WEMAKEPRICE, as well as 50 billion won under the pretext of acquiring a U.S. e-commerce company. They are also charged with causing a total loss of 72.7 billion won to TMON, WEMAKEPRICE, and Interpark Commerce by funneling work to affiliated companies for the purpose of listing Qxpress, Qoo10's logistics subsidiary, on NASDAQ.
Previously, the prosecution requested arrest warrants for CEO Koo twice in October and November, but both were dismissed by the court.
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