Jo Youngtak, CEO of IMS Mobility, who was detained by Special Prosecutor Min Jungki's team, requested a review of the legality of his detention, but the court rejected his request.
On December 17, the Criminal Appellate Division 1-3 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judges: Cho Jeongrae, Jin Hyeonji, and An Heegil) held a hearing on Jo's request for a detention legality review and dismissed the request on the same day. As the court has rejected his request, Jo will remain in detention.
The detention legality review is a procedure in which the court examines whether the detention of a suspect during the investigation stage is lawful and whether it is necessary to maintain the detention.
Kim Yesung, known as the 'butler' of First Lady Kim Gunhee's family, and Jo Youngtak, co-conspirator and CEO of IMS Mobility, are leaving the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, after the pre-trial detention hearing on the 5th. Photo by Yonhap News Agency
Previously, on December 6, Jo was arrested on charges including breach of trust and embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, embezzlement in the course of work, violation of the Act on External Audit of Stock Companies, and instigation of evidence concealment. He is accused of embezzling 3.5 billion won and committing a 3.2 billion won breach of trust during the process in which IMS Mobility received investments from multiple companies in 2023 and used part of the funds to buy back its own shares. He is also accused of paying a journalist tens of millions of won in total to have favorable articles written about his company (bribery for breach of trust).
IMS Mobility is a company in which Kim Yesung, known as the 'butler' of First Lady Kim Gunhee's family, participated in its founding and holds shares. Through the private equity fund manager Oasis Equity Partners, the company received 18.4 billion won in investments from Kakao Mobility, HS Hyosung, Shinhan Bank, and others.
Of the 18.4 billion won raised, 4.6 billion won was used to purchase existing IMS shares held by a venture company called Innovest Korea. Innovest Korea is known to be a shell company actually owned by Kim, and it had previously acquired IMS shares from Kim. As a result, some have raised suspicions that the flow of funds was structured to enable Kim to recover his investment.
Kim was indicted and detained in August, along with Jo, on charges of embezzling 2.43 billion won. The first trial is scheduled to conclude oral arguments on December 22.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
