A South Korean court has ordered the unfreezing of financial accounts belonging to Kwak Byung-chae, son of former People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do, who was acquitted in the first trial of charges related to a controversial 5 billion won ($3.5 million) severance payment.
According to legal sources on the 9th, the Criminal Appeals Division 2-1 of Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judges Kwak Jung-han, Kang Hee-seok, and Cho Eun-ah) accepted an appeal filed by the former lawmaker on the 9th of last month and ruled to lift the asset preservation order.
Asset preservation is a measure that prevents defendants from disposing of illegally obtained property or profits before a court verdict is finalized. The assets subject to the court's lifting order are Kwak Byung-chae's financial institution accounts.
Prosecutors filed for asset preservation on some properties belonging to the former lawmaker and his son in October 2021 during their investigation into the "5 billion won severance suspicion." The court granted the request that same month. The former lawmaker's side filed an appeal in November of that year seeking to overturn the preservation order, which the court accepted last month after more than four years.
The appellate court considered that both the former lawmaker and his son received dismissal of charges and acquittal respectively in the first trial. The court stated, "More than four years have passed since the asset preservation order took effect, yet there has been no justification presented for the disadvantages suffered by the defendant," adding that "at present, there is insufficient justification for the necessity of asset preservation."
Prosecutors have filed a re-appeal to the Supreme Court challenging the court's decision.
The former lawmaker was indicted in February 2022 on charges of receiving 5 billion won (2.5 billion won after tax deductions) as severance pay and bonuses for his son Byung-chae, who had worked at a company owned by Kim Man-bae, a major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu, before resigning in April 2021. He was acquitted in the first trial in February 2023.
Prosecutors indicted Byung-chae on bribery charges in October of that year while filing additional charges against the former lawmaker for violating the Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment.
However, Criminal Division 23 of Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Oh Se-yong) ruled on the 6th of last month that Byung-chae was not guilty of bribery charges and dismissed the case against the former lawmaker. The court determined that prosecutors' additional indictment of the former lawmaker under different charges to overturn the existing acquittal constituted an abuse of prosecutorial authority.
