Moon Jae-in's (72) side, who was sent to trial on bribery charges in connection with salary that a former son-in-law received from Eastar Jet Co., argued that prosecutors engaged in a "truck indictment," pouring out and filing so much material unrelated to the indictment that it could fill a truck.
The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Agreement Division 21 (Presiding Judge Lee Hyeon-bok) held the third preparatory hearing for the bribery case of the former president Moon and former lawmaker Lee Sang-jik (former chairman of Eastar Jet Co.) on the morning of the day.
Before deciding whether to proceed with a jury trial requested by Moon's side, the court conducted a procedure to sift evidence. Under the revised criminal procedure rules, the court may dismiss evidence requested by the prosecutor or the defendant that would unduly delay the trial.
Before the evidence-sifting procedure, attorney Kim Hyeong-yeon for the former president said, "When material unrelated to the indictment is shoehorned in as facts about the circumstances or motive of the crime and poured out to the point it can be loaded onto a truck and then indicted, that is called a 'truck indictment.'" He added, "In this case, 85% of the evidence is unrelated to the charges, and only 15% is related, so it is a truck indictment."
Attorney Lee Gwang-cheol for the former president said, "The reason the (prosecution's) theory of proof is scattershot is because from the start it reflected an intent to carry out political retaliation against the former president under any pretext." He continued, "This case appears to have been directed at former lawmaker Lee's third-party bribery offense," and said, "When prosecutors failed to find a point of investigation, they proceeded on the basis that the former president's daughter and son-in-law were 'economically incompetent,' and investigated that they were employed through former lawmaker Lee."
The court said, "We have directly applied the bribery charge to the defendant (the former president) regarding what the (former president's daughter and her) spouse received," adding, "Everyone—the court, the prosecution, and the defense—knows this case does not fall into a routine category."
However, it explained, "It can also be circumstances indicating the investigation was unlawful, as the defense argues, but the prosecution indicted on the assertion that 'this is the substance,'" adding, "Whether the investigation was improper will also be subject to review."
The court admitted evidence regarding former lawmaker Lee's appointment to the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME), which Moon's side claimed was "materials accumulated through a separate investigation." It rejected the prosecution's proposed evidence related to support that Moon's daughter Da-hye received from a publishing manager.
The former president is accused of giving former lawmaker Lee the position of chairman of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) to secure employment at Thai Eastar Jet for his former son-in-law, a person surnamed Seo, and receiving 217 million won in bribes in return. Former lawmaker Lee is accused of hiring Seo and offering bribes in the name of salary and relocation expenses, and of causing Thai Eastar Jet loss through the expenditure of salary by hiring Seo, who had no experience in the airline industry.