CIO Raids Supreme and Seoul High Prosecutors’ Offices over Probe into Kim Hakui Travel Ban

Indicted on Abuse of Authority Charges, Cha Kyugeun, Lee Kyuwon, and Lee Gwangcheol Acquitted by the Supreme Court

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) has launched a compulsory investigation into allegations that illegal acts, including the disclosure of official secrets, occurred during the probe into the illegal travel ban imposed on former Vice Minister of Justice Kim Hakui.

On the 11th, the CIO’s Third Investigation Division, led by Senior Prosecutor Lee Daehwan, announced that it was conducting search and seizure operations at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office in connection with a case in which the prosecutors who investigated the “former Vice Minister Kim travel ban case” had been accused.

Yonhap News Agency

The CIO is reportedly securing all records, including reports and documents related to the case, that were prepared by the investigation team at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and the High Prosecutors’ Office at the time.

Earlier, in connection with the allegations of an illegal travel ban on Kim Hakui, the prosecution indicted Cha Kyugeun, a lawmaker from the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, Strategy Committee Chair Lee Kyuwon, and former Blue House Civil Affairs Secretary Lee Gwangcheol on charges including abuse of authority. The prosecution concluded that on March 22, 2019, when signs emerged that former Vice Minister Kim, who was facing allegations of having received entertainment at a villa, was attempting to leave the country via Incheon International Airport, Representative Cha and others illegally imposed a travel ban.

Committee Chair Lee, who at the time was a dispatched prosecutor on the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Past Affairs Investigation Team, was charged with blocking Kim’s departure by submitting an emergency travel ban request that cited a past case number for which Kim had already received a non-indictment disposition, and with entering a non-existent preliminary investigation number on the subsequent approval request. Representative Cha, who was then head of the Immigration Service at the Ministry of Justice, was charged with granting ex post facto approval for Lee’s emergency travel ban measure despite knowing it was illegal. Former Blue House secretary Lee was charged with coordinating between Representative Cha and Committee Chair Lee and effectively taking the lead in the overall travel ban process.

However, the court of first instance found that although the emergency travel ban on former Vice Minister Kim did not meet the legal requirements and was therefore unlawful, it was difficult to punish it as abuse of authority in light of the urgent circumstances at the time. The first-instance court stated, “At the time of former Vice Minister Kim’s attempt to leave the country, a reinvestigation was in effect a foregone conclusion and only a formal case registration had not yet occurred,” adding, “Even if the legal requirements were not met in a very urgent situation, this cannot be regarded as abuse of authority.”

The prosecution appealed and then filed a further appeal against the court’s decision, but the second-instance court and the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion, and an acquittal was finalized in June last year.

After the Supreme Court ruling, Representative Cha filed a complaint with the CIO in July last year against the prosecutors who had investigated him at the time, including Im Sejin and Lee Jeongseop, on charges of preparing and using false official documents and disclosing official secrets. The CIO plans to analyze the seized materials it has secured and then review whether to summon the accused suspects for questioning.