Boasting Investigative Authority Reform to Cover Up Cases
Received 200 Million Won to Take Over and Dismiss Cases
An incumbent police officer who received bribes amounting to hundreds of millions of won from a suspect and, in return, manipulated case records and covered up incidents, was indicted and brought to trial in detention on June 12.
KakaoTalk and text message conversation history. Provided by Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office
The Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Seungho) announced that on this day, it had indicted, under detention, Inspector Jeong (52), a team leader in the Investigation Division of Uijeongbu Police Station, on charges including bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. Kim (43), a loan broker who gave bribes to Inspector Jeong, was indicted without detention.
According to the prosecution, from June 2020 to February 2021, Inspector Jeong allegedly received a total of 211.2 million won in 22 separate instances from Kim, who was under investigation for multiple fraud cases, by promising, "I will combine the cases and ensure that all are not prosecuted."
Inspector Jeong is reported to have demanded money by sending messages such as "Give me the money today. I will make sure everything is not prosecuted," "From next year, with the independence of investigative authority and the new system, it will be your (Kim's) world," and "Isn't it attractive that I will finalize the non-prosecution? I will be better than any prosecutor." He took advantage of the expansion of police investigative authority, including the granting of case-closing powers to the police after the reorganization of investigative authority.
In return for the money, Inspector Jeong had Kim's address moved into Uijeongbu Police Station's jurisdiction, so that 16 fraud cases in which Kim was a suspect were transferred or reassigned from other police stations. Inspector Jeong then decided not to refer these cases or sent them to the prosecution with a recommendation for non-prosecution. It was also found that, to cover up the cases, Inspector Jeong fabricated suspect interrogation reports as if Kim had appeared at the police station for questioning, and asked a colleague to stamp the documents as a participant.
The prosecution stated that Inspector Jeong testified, "Internal approvals at the police station are usually processed only electronically, so there is little risk of document forgery being detected. However, if the records are sent to the prosecution, there is a risk of being discovered, so I could not bring myself to send them. No one searched for the records, so I kept them for three years."
Additionally, in May 2022, when Kim fled after an arrest warrant was issued for a separate case, Inspector Jeong gave him $3,850 (about 5 million won) as escape funds, instructing him to "flee abroad." About two years later, even after being notified by the prosecution that Kim had been arrested, Inspector Jeong neglected to investigate Kim's suspended cases for six months.
This investigation began when, in April, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office reopened a fraud case involving Kim, which Inspector Jeong had previously referred with a non-prosecution opinion before the reorganization of investigative authority, following a reinvestigation order from the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office. During this process, Kim testified about providing bribes.
The prosecution stated, "We will notify the police of the issues in the police investigation process revealed through this case, and pursue follow-up measures such as reinvestigating cases for which Inspector Jeong decided not to refer. We will do our utmost to strengthen judicial oversight of police investigations so that the rights of citizens who have suffered from crime are substantially protected and the state's punitive authority is properly enforced."
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