Prosecutors on the 3rd appealed a first-trial ruling that acquitted former Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Noh Woong-rae of charges of receiving illegal political funds.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said in a media notice that it had filed an appeal against the first-trial ruling in the case involving bribery charges against the former lawmaker.
Prosecutors said, "Recently, judgments have varied by court regarding the legality of procedures for securing digital evidence," adding, "We appealed in consideration of the need for uniform standards."
They added, "Referring to the first-trial written judgment, we also plan to review whether there are areas in investigative practice, such as search and seizure, that should be improved going forward."
Earlier, on the 26th of last month, Presiding Judge Park Kang-gyun of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 4 single-judge panel acquitted the former lawmaker of bribery and other charges. The court found that evidence submitted by prosecutors in relation to the charges was collected unlawfully and excluded most of it.
At the time, the court ruled, "Even among the remaining evidence, excluding illegally collected evidence and secondary evidence submitted by prosecutors, it cannot be considered sufficiently probative or of high evidentiary value to establish each charge against the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt," adding that the case "falls under a situation where there is no proof of the crime."
The former lawmaker was indicted without detention in Mar. 2023 on charges that from Feb. to Dec. 2020, he received 60 million won in five installments from a businessman surnamed Park in exchange for facilitating power plant supply contracts and a solar power project, brokering permits for a logistics center, and as purported election funds. In Apr. last year, prosecutors sought four years in prison and a fine of 200 million won for the former lawmaker and asked the court to order the forfeiture of 50 million won.
In the case of the businessman Park, who was indicted alongside the former lawmaker, the first trial sentenced him to one year and six months in prison and remanded him into custody in the courtroom.