Shin Young-seop, the CEO of JW Pharmaceutical, who is accused of handing out kickbacks worth hundreds of millions of won to medical professionals and others to promote sales of the company's drugs, also received a suspended prison sentence on appeal.
According to legal sources on the 26th, the Criminal Appeals Division 1 of the Seoul Western District Court (Presiding Judge Ban Jeong-woo) on the 15th dismissed the appeal filed by CEO Shin, who was indicted on charges of violating the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, and handed down the same sentence as the first trial: 10 months in prison, suspended for two years.
From Jan. 2016 to Dec. 2018, Shin is accused of setting aside a cash budget to promote drug sales and providing kickbacks worth a total of a little over 200 million won to 45 people, including medical professionals, through company sales staff.
The first trial said, "This distorts the order of pharmaceutical sales, hinders the sound development of the industry, and ultimately passes the expense resulting from economic benefits given to medical professionals on to patients and the National Health Insurance Service," adding, "The social harm is significant, so strict punishment is necessary."
The appeals court noted, "The grounds for alleging an unfair sentence appear to be circumstances the lower court already considered when setting the penalty, and there has been no particular change in circumstances related to the factors for sentencing since the lower court's ruling," explaining the reason for dismissing the appeal.
For Head of Team A, who was tried alongside Shin, the first-trial sentence of four months in prison, suspended for one year, was maintained. Under the dual punishment provision that penalizes both the offender and the corporation, JW Pharmaceutical, which was indicted as a corporate entity, was fined 30 million won.
Employees of medical institutions indicted for receiving money or valuables were sentenced to fines ranging from 5 million won to 20 million won and additional forfeitures from 3.66 million won to 48 million won.
JW Pharmaceutical said, "This ruling concerns certain sales activities before 2018, and we respect the court's judgment," adding, "Based on our review of the written judgment, we will carefully decide our next steps, including possible legal procedures, together with our legal counsel."