'Appeal Waiver Controversy' Daejang-dong Private Developer Case on Appeal... Assigned to Judge Overseeing Lee's Perjury Trial

[Financial News] The Daejang-dong private developer case, which has raised suspicions of preferential treatment in the development project, has been assigned to Criminal Division 3 (Presiding Judge Lee Seung-han) of the Seoul High Court.
According to the legal community on the 11th, the Seoul High Court assigned the cases of Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, attorney Nam Wook, accountant Yeonghak Jeong, former Seongnam Urban Development Corporation (SDC) planning director Dong-gyu Yu, and attorney Min Yong Jung to Criminal Division 3.
Criminal Division 3 specializes in corruption cases and is also handling the appellate trial for former President Lee's perjury charge. However, with the trial date postponed ahead of the presidential election last May, the proceedings have effectively been put on hold.
Previously, the 22nd Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Cho Hyung-woo), which oversaw the first trial, sentenced Kim Man-bae to eight years in prison and ordered the forfeiture of 42.8 billion won on October 31. Former director Yu received eight years in prison, a fine of 400 million won, and forfeiture of 810 million won. Attorney Nam Wook was sentenced to four years in prison, accountant Yeonghak Jeong to five years, and attorney Min Yong Jung to six years in prison, a fine of 3.8 billion won, and forfeiture of 3.7 billion won.
All five defendants appealed the verdict, but the prosecution did not submit an appeal by the deadline at midnight on the 7th, effectively waiving their right to appeal. Under the Criminal Procedure Act, if only the defendant appeals, the principle of 'prohibition of unfavorable changes' means that the appellate court cannot impose a harsher sentence than in the first trial. As a result, charges for which the defendants were acquitted in the first trial—such as aggravated breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, the 42.8 billion won bribery agreement involving former director Yu, and violations of the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act—cannot be retried in the appellate court.
Kim Man-bae and others were indicted for allegedly obtaining approximately 788.6 billion won in illicit gains by using inside information from Seongnam City and the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation (SDC) while promoting the Daejang-dong development project in Bundang-gu, Seongnam, from August 2014 to March 2015. They reportedly ensured that the 'Tteul of Seongnam' consortium, which they led, was selected as the project operator and reaped enormous profits from land and apartment sales. During this process, the corporation is estimated to have suffered losses of about 489.5 billion won.


scottchoi15@fnnews.com Choi Eun-sol Reporter