Court: "Insufficient Evidence for Necessity of Arrest or Flight Risk"
Arrest warrants for three individuals, including Cho Youngtak, CEO of IMS Mobility, who were implicated in the 'Butler Gate' scandal, have been dismissed. With authorities failing to secure their custody, it is inevitable that the investigation momentum of the special prosecutor team led by Min Jungki, which is probing Kim Keonhee, will be affected.
On September 3, Park Jungho, the judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, dismissed the arrest warrants after completing the substantive warrant review for CEO Cho, Mo Jaeyong, Director of Business Support at IMS Mobility, and Min Kyungmin, CEO of Oasis Equity Partners. Judge Park stated, "There is insufficient evidence to support the necessity of arrest, concerns about flight risk, or the possibility of evidence destruction."
CEO Cho was subject to an arrest warrant on charges of breach of trust and embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. Director Mo faced charges of evidence concealment, while CEO Min was charged with breach of trust under the same act. The arrest warrants were requested on August 29.
They are accused of either being directly involved in the 'Butler Gate' scandal or committing illegal acts during the course of the investigation.
The 'Butler Gate' scandal centers on suspicions that IMS Mobility (formerly BeMyCar), a rental car company co-founded by Kim Yesung, who is known as the butler of Mrs. Kim, was in a state of capital impairment. Despite this, investment firms including HS Hyosung invested 18.4 billion won in June 2023 through the fund operator Oasis Equity Partners. The allegation is that these companies made the investment to seek favors for resolving their own management issues by channeling funds to Kim, a close aide to Mrs. Kim.
Of the 18.4 billion won raised by IMS, 4.6 billion won was used by a venture company called Innovest Korea to purchase existing IMS shares from Kim. Innovest Korea is known to be a shell company actually owned by Kim, with Kim's spouse, identified as Jung, serving as its sole registered director.
The special prosecutor team believes that CEO Cho and CEO Min each committed breach of trust amounting to 3.2 billion won in the processes of raising investment and acquiring existing shares. CEO Cho also faces charges of embezzlement totaling 3.5 billion won, violations of the Act on External Audit of Stock Companies, and instructing evidence concealment. Director Mo is accused of attempting to hide evidence, such as moving computers, just before the special prosecutor's team raided IMS Mobility.
As for Kim, who has been identified as a central figure in the case, the special prosecutor team indicted him on August 29 on charges of embezzling a total of 4.8 billion won from IMS funds.
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