The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on the 4th reassigned the "MBK Homeplus Co. case" from the third anti-corruption division to the second anti-corruption division.
The central district office said in a media notice that this was a measure "to allow a new division, rather than the division that initiated and conducted the investigation, to make a judgment from an objective perspective," and stated accordingly.
The central district office said, "(In this case) after the investigation began in Apr. 2025, we sought arrest warrants in Jan. 2026 for four key suspects, but the court dismissed all of them for reasons including 'insufficient grounds.'"
It added, "In reflective consideration of the fact that in recent years a series of acquittals have been handed down in cases that the prosecution directly initiated, this is to substantively implement Article 4, Paragraph 2 of the Prosecutors' Office Act, which embodies the purpose of 'separating investigation and indictment.'"
Article 4, Paragraph 2 of the Prosecutors' Office Act is a provision that bars a prosecutor from filing an indictment for a crime that the prosecutor initiated the investigation of.
The central district office said, "Unlike the red-team concept, we will directly decide whether to indict and promptly conduct supplementary investigations within the minimum necessary scope." A red team refers to a team that plays a checking role in an organization's decision-making process.