Prosecutors gave a suspension of indictment to Ko Young-cheol, head of the National Credit Union Federation of Korea (Shinhyup), who had been under investigation on charges of violating election law. A suspension of indictment is a kind of warning in which criminal suspicion is acknowledged, but the prosecutor only makes the suspect aware of it and does not impose punishment. Ko, who took office early this year, will be able to serve out the remainder of the term without a trial.
According to a compilation of reporting by ChosunBiz on the 7th, the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office on the evening of the previous day issued a suspension of indictment to Ko on suspicion of violating the Act on Entrusted Elections for Public Organizations (Entrusted Election Act). A person surnamed Choi, the Shinhyup planning director who faced the same charge, also received a suspension of indictment.
Ko is suspected of violating the Entrusted Election Act by visiting, together with his close aide Choi, the Shinhyup planning director, the chairs of unit associations who had voting rights at a time outside the 34th National Credit Union Federation chairman election period to ask for support. In response, the Shinhyup labor union filed a complaint with the Dunsan Police Station in Daejeon against Choi at the end of May and against Ko on the 19th of last month, saying Ko violated Article 24(2) (pre-campaigning) and Article 38 (restrictions on door-to-door visits, etc.) of the Entrusted Election Act.
A person who violates Article 24(2) of the Entrusted Election Act, among others, can face up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won. If Ko had been indicted and received a finalized sentence of imprisonment or a fine of 1 million won or more at trial, his election could have been invalidated.
Ko is known to have retained attorney Lee Sung-sik of Yoon & Yang LLC, who previously served as the third deputy chief prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, to handle the case. Lee, who joined Yoon & Yang in April, also led the investigation in the past into President Lee Jae-myung's Public Official Election Act violation case.