The Democratic Party of Korea raised suspicions of orders from higher-ups in what was called the "bank-wrapped band disposal case," but the standing special counsel concluded it stemmed from an on-the-job mistake among working-level staff. After an internal inspection by prosecutors and a 90-day investigation by the standing special counsel, no criminal suspicions were confirmed. However, the special counsel did not close the case directly and sent it back to the prosecution.
On the 5th, Ahn Kwon-seop's standing special counsel team announced the final results of its investigation and said it decided to refer the case to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. Rather than issuing a no-charge disposition itself, the special counsel intends to hand the case to the prosecution for a final decision.
The suspicion over the disposal of the bank-wrapped band is that, of the 165 million won in cash seized by the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office in Dec. 2024 from the home of "Geonjin" Jeon Seong-bae, the bank-wrapped band and sticker that had bound 50 million won had disappeared.
Within the Democratic Party, some suggested there may have been involvement by "higher-ups" behind the disappearance of the band and called for a special counsel. In Sept. last year, Democratic Party floor spokesperson Kim Hyun-jung argued, "The loss of the bank-wrapped band is not the mistake of an inexperienced investigator but an organized crime to cover up a bigger crime or higher-ups."
Some in the opposition bloc said the band itself makes it hard to trace the flow of funds and that raising suspicions was excessive. Reform Party lawmaker Cheon Ha-ram said at the Bank of Korea's audit by the National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee in Oct. last year, "A bank-wrapped band is to show whether there are 1,000 bills and whether manufacturing accountability was done properly," adding, "There is no way to know through which bank and how it circulated just from the band."
Earlier, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office launched an inspection into the case in Aug. last year at the direction of Minister of Justice Jung Sung-ho. The Ministry of Justice was given a tentative conclusion that, while there was negligence in the handling of seized items, there was no indication that higher-ups in the prosecution ordered the disposal of the band.
In response, the Minister said, "We concluded that an internal inspection by the prosecution alone would be unlikely to gain public trust," and decided to activate the standing special counsel, sending the case to the special counsel.
The special counsel said that although it investigated for about 90 days, it found no objective evidence to support the "higher-up order suspicion." However, it explained that, under the special counsel law, if it cannot decide whether to indict within the investigation period, it must transfer the case to the chief prosecutor of the competent district prosecutors' office, and on that basis it decided to hand the case to the prosecution.
At a briefing that day, when asked why the case was being referred to the prosecution without a no-charge disposition, leading to additional use of personnel and budget, an official from the special counsel team answered to the effect that "because it cannot be ruled out that, under time constraints, we may have failed to discover additional evidence."
The official said, "Based on the materials secured so far and the results of the investigation, no criminal suspicions have been confirmed," while adding, "The prosecution, which has received the case, will reach a final conclusion based on the special counsel's investigative materials."
Accordingly, the bank-wrapped band suspicion has taken on a structure in which, after the prosecution's internal inspection and the special counsel's investigation, it will again be subject to the prosecution's judgment.
Some in legal circles also suggested the special counsel may have been trying to avoid political burden. Seo Young-kyo, a Democratic Party lawmaker on The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, said on Facebook that day, "I express deep regret over the special counsel's judgment that concluded a serious case in which key evidence was destroyed inside the Prosecution Service as an 'operational mistake,'" adding, "It is hasty to conclude there was no higher-up involvement when the evidence itself has disappeared."