Prosecutors' Office Appeals Court Ruling That Search and Seizure of Son Junsung in 'Gobal Saju' Case Was Illegal

The High-ranking Public Officials Crime Investigation Unit (HCPIU) has filed a rehearing petition after the court partially accepted the provisional appeal filed by Son Junsung, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Daegu High Prosecutors' Office (Auditor), who is suspected of the 'accusation manipulation' allegation, in response to the investigative agency's search and seizure.

Supreme Public Official Crime Investigation Agency (Gongsocho) in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi-do. Photo by Yonhap News.

According to the legal community on the 18th, the HCPIU submitted a rehearing petition to the court the day before regarding the decision by Judge So Junseop of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 32 on the 11th, which partially recognized the illegality of the search and seizure order filed by Prosecutor Son.

To investigate the accusation manipulation allegations from September to November 2021, the HCPIU conducted a search and seizure of the former Investigation Information Office (now the Information Management Office) of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office where Prosecutor Son worked. Through this, they secured notes, emails, messenger records on the internal prosecution network (Eprosys) used by Prosecutor Son, as well as search records of cases and judgments in the Criminal Justice Information System (KICS).

Prosecutor Son's side filed a provisional appeal, arguing that the HCPIU prosecutors did not follow the notification procedure for the suspect's participation and that the search and seizure were conducted excluding the right to participate.

The Seoul Central District Court dismissed the provisional appeal in July 2022, citing reasons such as Prosecutor Son not specifically identifying what constituted the illegal search and seizure.

In response, Prosecutor Son filed a rehearing, arguing that it was difficult to specify the target because he was excluded from participating in the search and seizure. In January 2023, the Supreme Court found merit in Prosecutor Son's claim, overturned the lower court's decision that had rejected the provisional appeal, and remanded the case to the Seoul Central District Court.

After re-examining the legality, the Seoul Central District Court ruled on the 11th that there was partial illegality.