While running broadcaster Park Su-hong's agency, older brother Park, who was on trial for embezzling billions of won including appearance fees, received a heavier sentence on appeal than at the original trial.
On the 19th the Seoul High Court, Criminal Division 7 (B) held a sentencing hearing in the appellate court for Park Su-hong's older brother Park and his sister-in-law Ms. Lee, who were indicted on charges of embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.
That day the appellate court sentenced Park to three years and six months in prison, and, finding a risk of flight, issued an arrest warrant and ordered him detained in court. For sister-in-law Ms. Lee, who had been acquitted at the first trial, the court found her partially guilty and sentenced her to one year in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered 120 hours of community service. Immediately after the verdict, sister-in-law Ms. Lee left the courtroom in tears.
The court said, "This case involves a family company with a weak internal monitoring system that abused the trust of Park Su-hong, who is the brother of the defendants, and beyond infringing on the property interests of the victims, who are the direct victims of embezzlement and breach of trust, it disrupted the corporate system and the tax order that should function soundly alongside the joint-stock company system. Furthermore, it resulted in substantial financial and psychological damage to the actual victim, Park Su-hong."
It added, "Considering the serious nature of the crime and the gravity of its consequences, severe punishment commensurate with the culpability is unavoidable," and said, "The funds diverted from the victims as a result of the defendant's crimes appear, based on the flow, to have been used to acquire personal assets such as real estate in the names of Mr. and Mrs. Park to a considerable extent."
The court said, "As family members of a famous entertainer, they completely betrayed Park Su-hong's trust by using the complainant's income, which was formed based on the attention, love and trust of the public, to accumulate their private wealth," and added, "Furthermore, it caused considerable adverse effects by sparking nonprecautionary controversies such as moral laxity in our society."
The court also criticized their attempts at repayment, saying, "Partial repayment is also unacceptable. Even if repayment occurred, the source of the funds was entirely Park Su-hong's income, so the actual victim of the embezzlement and breach of trust is Park Su-hong," and added, "Park made no restitution to the actual victim, Park Su-hong, even up to the second-instance trial, and appears to have made no particular effort to do so. Park Su-hong has repeatedly petitioned for severe punishment of Park in both the original and appellate trials."
Meanwhile, Park was referred to trial in October 2022 on charges of embezzling about 6.17 billion won of company funds and his younger brother's personal funds while managing Park Su-hong's management exclusively for about 10 years from 2011 to 2021. Sister-in-law Ms. Lee was also prosecuted without detention on charges of participating in part of the embezzlement.
However, in February last year the first trial court recognized only the charge that Park embezzled 200 million won of company funds and sentenced Park to two years in prison and acquitted Ms. Lee. Afterward both the prosecution and the Park couple appealed, and as in the first trial the prosecution sought sentences of seven years and three years at the appellate court.
[Photo] OSEN DB
[OSEN]