A person surnamed Park, who was indicted for embezzling billions of won including broadcaster Park Soo-hong's appearance fees and agency funds, ultimately had a prison sentence upheld.
On the 26th, the Supreme Court's 1st division (Presiding Justice Shin Sook-hee) upheld the appellate court (second trial) ruling that sentenced a person surnamed Park, who was tried on embezzlement charges under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, to three years and six months in prison and dismissed the appeal. Accordingly, the one-year prison sentence with a two-year suspended sentence handed to the person surnamed Lee, the wife of the person surnamed Park, was also upheld.
The person surnamed Park was referred to trial in October 2022 on charges that, from 2011 to 2021, he was in charge of managing his younger brother Park Soo-hong for about 10 years and used part of appearance fees and company funds for personal purposes such as his APT. maintenance fees and lawyer fees. His wife, a person surnamed Lee, was also prosecuted without detention on charges of using Park Soo-hong's agency corporate card for personal purposes.
Prosecutors initially judged that the person surnamed Park embezzled about 6.17 billion won, but during the first trial they adjusted the total embezzled amount to about 4.8 billion won after excluding duplicate entries. However, the first trial court recognized as guilty only the embezzlement of 2 billion won in company funds and sentenced the person surnamed Park to two years in prison, while acquitting the person surnamed Lee for lack of evidence.
But the situation was reversed in the second trial. After Park Soo-hong's legal representative was changed, the corporate card usage details of the person surnamed Park and his wife were analyzed more closely, and additional circumstances were recognized that the corporate card was privately used under the pretense of living expenses such as children's education expenses, amusement park·kids cafe use, and fitness center memberships. Accordingly, the second trial court increased the person surnamed Park's sentence substantially to three years and six months and ordered him detained in court.
In particular, the second trial court found the person surnamed Park not guilty of using his brother's personal funds, but considered the fact that the victim corporation was a "family company" a significant aggravating factor. The court pointed out, "He exploited the weak internal monitoring system unique to family companies and betrayed the trust of his brother Park Soo-hong." Accordingly, the first-trial acquittal of the person surnamed Lee was overturned, and the portion found guilty for privately using about 26 million won on the corporate card resulted in a one-year prison sentence, a two-year suspended sentence and 120 hours of community service.
Nevertheless, the person surnamed Park appealed, arguing the sentence was excessively heavy and that the person surnamed Lee did not directly participate in corporate operations. But the Supreme Court dismissed the person surnamed Park's appeal, saying, "Claiming only that the sentence was inappropriate does not constitute a legally prescribed ground for appeal." The court also upheld the lower court's ruling for the person surnamed Lee, saying, "There is no misapplication of law or insufficient consideration regarding the establishment of breach of duty in the performance of work."
The legal dispute within the family that lasted more than 10 years came to an end with the Supreme Court's upholding of the prison sentence.
[Photo] OSEN DB
[OSEN]