Oh Se-hoon faces a “day of reckoning” as appeal verdict in Political Funds Act case to be livestreamed on the 23rd

[Financial News] The appeal verdict in the Political Funds Act case, which will determine whether Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon can remain in office, will be livestreamed.
On the 20th, the Seoul High Court’s Criminal Division 7, presided over by Judge Gu Hoe-geun, decided to livestream the hearing for the appeal verdict in Mayor Oh’s Political Funds Act case, scheduled for 2 p.m. on the 23rd.
The court will film inside the courtroom using its own equipment and transmit the footage to broadcasters in real time. The verdict in Mayor Oh’s first trial was not livestreamed.
The decision followed an application for permission to broadcast filed the previous day by the Kim Keon Hee Special Prosecutor Team (Special Counsel Min Joung-kie). Under the Kim Keon-hee Special Counsel Act, a presiding judge must permit a trial to be broadcast, absent special circumstances, if the special counsel or the defendant requests it.
Mayor Oh was indicted on charges of receiving the results of opinion polls from political broker Myung Tae-gyun on 10 occasions in total ahead of the April 7, 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election, and having a businessman surnamed Kim, known as a longtime supporter, pay 33 million won in costs on his behalf.
The first-trial court found that Mayor Oh had commissioned five opinion polls from Myung and that Kim had paid 21 million won in costs on his behalf. It sentenced Oh to a fine of 10 million won and ordered the forfeiture of 21 million won.
Under the Political Funds Act, anyone whose sentence for illegally receiving political funds becomes final and includes a fine of at least 1 million won is barred from taking public office for five years and must leave any public office they currently hold. If the first-trial sentence is finalized as is, Mayor Oh will lose his office and face restrictions on running in future public elections.
At the appeal’s final hearing held on the 2nd, the special counsel team sought a prison sentence of one year and six months and the forfeiture of 33 million won for Mayor Oh. In his final statement, however, Mayor Oh claimed he was not guilty, saying he had never asked anyone to pay the opinion-poll costs on his behalf.
 
[email protected] Choi Eun-sol Reporter