Seo Jeong-sik, former Hyundai AutoEver CEO who was indicted on charges of receiving valuables worth 860 million won along with solicitations from partner companies and others, was acquitted at the first trial. The court said it was difficult to recognize the admissibility of evidence because materials were collected beyond the scope of consent for the voluntary submission of electronic information from a mobile phone.
The Criminal Agreement Division 21 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Hyun-bok, Director General) on the 12th acquitted the former CEO Seo, who was indicted on charges including breach of trust by taking bribes and violations of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act. The court found that a substantial portion of the evidence submitted by prosecutors constituted illegally collected evidence.
The court said the former CEO Seo agreed only to submit electronic information from his mobile phone related to the alleged breach of trust by former KT CEO Yun Kyung-lim and the suspicion of Spark's overpriced purchase, and it was difficult to see that there was an intention to voluntarily submit information beyond that. The court said, "It is illegal as a seizure through a method of voluntary submission of unrelated evidence."
Prosecutors have said they detected Seo's suspected breach of trust by taking bribes during an investigation into allegations that KT Cloud, an affiliate of the KT Group, acquired the in-vehicle cloud company Spark & Associates (Spark, now OpenCloudLab) at an inflated price.
Prosecutors concluded that the former CEO Seo received economic benefits worth 860 million won in corporate cards and cash from three people, including representatives of partner companies, in return for solicitations such as maintaining the transaction relationship and facilitating deliveries, and indicted him in May 2023. However, the court determined that most of the evidence related to the breach of trust by taking bribes charge was inadmissible, and that the remaining evidence was insufficient to acknowledge the indictment facts.
The court also found not guilty on the charge of receiving 80 million won from a person surnamed Han connected to Spark. The court said the amount could be seen as a fee, that is, compensation for helping with Spark's sale, and it was difficult to view it as money received in return for guaranteeing a long-term contract between Hyundai AutoEver and Spark.
The charges against the former CEO Seo and Hyundai AutoEver for violating the External Audit Act and the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act also ended in acquittals. Those who were indicted together on charges of providing the valuables were also acquitted.
Meanwhile, former KT CEO Yun Kyung-lim and former KT Cloud CEO Yun Dong-sik are facing a first trial over the allegation of Spark's overpriced purchase. They are accused of causing KT Cloud losses of more than 5 billion won by being involved in September 2022 in KT Cloud's purchase of 100 percent equity in Spark for 21.2 billion won, higher than its actual value (breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes).
There have also been allegations that the sale may have had an element of repayment to Hyundai Motor. The idea is that when Hyundai Motor acquired Airplug, the company of the brother of former KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo, who fell into business difficulties in 2021, it may have added tens of billions of won in premiums. Park Sung-bin, former Spark CEO, is also the brother-in-law of Chung Eui-sun, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group.