Sentenced to Loss of Parliamentary Seat Again in Appellate Court
Yang Moonseok, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea who is suspected of purchasing an apartment in Gangnam through a fraudulent loan taken out in his daughter's name, was sentenced to a penalty resulting in the loss of his parliamentary seat in the appellate court on July 24.
The Criminal Division 3 of the Suwon High Court (presiding judge Kim Jonggi) dismissed both the prosecution's and Yang's appeals during the appellate sentencing hearing for charges including fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, forgery and use of private documents, and violation of the Public Official Election Act. The court upheld the original verdict, which imposed a suspended prison sentence.
In the first trial held in February, the court sentenced Yang to one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years, for fraud. For violating the Public Official Election Act, he was fined 1.5 million won, a penalty that results in the invalidation of his election.
Yang is accused of using his daughter's name, who was a university student at the time in April 2021, to obtain a business loan of 1.1 billion won from Suseong Saemaeul Geumgo in Daegu, which he used to help purchase an apartment in Seocho-gu, Seoul. The prosecution determined that Yang forged supporting documents such as transaction statements in order to deceive the credit union during the loan process, and indicted him on September 25 last year for fraud and forgery and use of private documents.
In March last year, ahead of the general election, when suspicions of this fraudulent loan emerged, Yang posted an explanation on Facebook, stating, "Saemaeul Geumgo first proposed the loan, and I did not intentionally deceive them," and "Saemaeul Geumgo did not check whether the loan was used properly." He is charged with spreading false information (violation of the Public Official Election Act) through this post. Yang is also accused of reporting the publicly announced price (2.156 billion won) of the Seocho-gu apartment instead of the actual transaction price (3.12 billion won) during the candidate registration process for the general election, which constitutes another violation of the Public Official Election Act.
During the trial, Yang's legal team generally denied the charges, arguing, "It was his wife who handled the process, and Yang was not aware of the loan details," and "While we acknowledge the charge of underreporting assets, there was no intent to spread false information."
The court also upheld the original verdict for Yang's wife, surnamed Seo, who was indicted on the same charges. She was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for three years.
If this verdict is finalized, Yang will lose his parliamentary seat. A member of the National Assembly loses their seat if a sentence of imprisonment or higher is confirmed, or if a fine of 1 million won or more is confirmed for violating the Public Official Election Act.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
