The Constitutional Court recently dismissed a constitutional complaint filed by former Gyeonggi vice governor for peace Lee Hwa-young, whose sentence of seven years and eight months in prison was finalized in the illegal remittance to North Korea case, over a prosecutor's decision to open an investigation.
According to legal sources on the 30th, the Constitutional Court on the 2nd dismissed a petition seeking a constitutional review of Article 4(2) of the Prosecutors' Office Act filed by Lee's side. The court said even if it were to rule on the constitutionality of the provision at issue, it could not affect the outcome of Lee's trial.
The constitutional complaint began as Lee, in 2023, came under investigation by the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office on charges including violating the Political Funds Act. At the time, the defense sought a quasi-appeal, arguing the Suwon office's decision to open an investigation was unlawful. A quasi-appeal is a procedure to object to an investigative agency's disposition by petitioning a court.
However, while the quasi-appeal hearing was underway, prosecutors indicted the case, moving it into criminal trial proceedings. The court then dismissed the quasi-appeal, saying, "Indictment has already been filed, so there is no practical benefit in contesting the decision to open an investigation." Lee's side filed a re-appeal, but the Supreme Court in Aug. this year rejected it for the same reason.
Lee's side on Sept. 8 filed a constitutional review with the Constitutional Court, arguing that the main clause of Article 4(2) of the Prosecutors' Office Act, which bars a prosecutor from bringing charges for a crime the prosecutor initiated an investigation into, is unconstitutional. They said Article 4(2) of the Prosecutors' Office Act violates the principle of clarity because, in situations where it is difficult to distinguish between the investigating prosecutor and the charging prosecutor, it is unclear whether indictment is permissible.
However, the Constitutional Court dismissed the case, saying, "Because the decision dismissing the quasi-appeal has already been finalized, there is no room to apply the challenged provision to this case, and the outcome of the trial will not change depending on its constitutionality." The court found that "prerequisite relevance to adjudication" is not met when a suspect has already become a defendant.
Meanwhile, Lee was indicted on charges of receiving about 334 million won in political funds and bribes from SSANGBANGWOOL Group from July 2018 to July 2022, and conspiring in SSANGBANGWOOL's $8 million (about 11.5 billion won) remittance to North Korea. A lower court sentenced Lee to nine years and six months in prison, and an appeals court reduced it to seven years and eight months. The sentence was finalized by the Supreme Court in June this year.