In the case of a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport assistant director indicted on bribery charges by the Kim Keon-hee special counsel, a first-instance court dismissed the indictment on the grounds that it did not fall under the special counsel's investigative mandate. Dismissal of an indictment is a procedural decision that ends the case before determining guilt or innocence, on the basis that the requirements for filing the indictment were not met.
The Criminal Division 22 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Cho Hyeong-woo) on the 22nd dismissed the indictment of a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) assistant director, a person surnamed Kim, who was charged with violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (bribery). The court premised that whether a matter falls within the special counsel's investigative mandate should be determined based on its reasonable relevance to uncovering specific facts for the purposes of the special counsel act.
The court found it difficult to see reasonable relevance in several respects—including the timing and type of the offense and personal connections—when comparing the facts alleged by the special counsel with the "Yangpyeong Expressway case," which is cited as a subject of investigation under the special counsel act. It then stated grounds for dismissal of the indictment to the effect that continuing the investigation of this case to uncover the facts would not align with the legislative intent of the special counsel act.
A person surnamed Kim was indicted and detained on charges of receiving 35 million won in cash and 1 million won in gift certificates for golf equipment from B, the head of contractor A, in return for helping A secure a contract for a national highway retaining wall construction service from June 2023 to November last year.
The special counsel has suspected that a person surnamed Kim may have been involved in the process of changing the terminus of the Seoul–Yangpyeong Expressway project in May 2023, after the launch of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, to Gangseo-myeon, Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi Province, where land owned by the family of first lady Kim Keon-hee is concentrated.
In addition, the special counsel last month filed an additional indictment against a person surnamed Kim on suspicion that, during the period from Apr. 2022 to May 2023, in the course of supervising the feasibility study service for the Yangpyeong Expressway commissioned by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the person led evaluation service firms to conclude, without reasonable review, that Gangsang-myeon was optimal as the terminus.