In the 2022 presidential race, a suspended prison sentence was finalized for Jang Young-ha, the People Power Party Seongnam-si Sujeong-gu district party Chairperson, who raised the allegation that President Lee Jae-myung was linked to gangsters.
The Supreme Court's Third Division (presiding Justice Lee Sook-yeon) on the 12th finalized the lower court ruling that sentenced Chairperson Jang, indicted on charges of publishing false information under the Public Official Election Act, to one year in prison, suspended for two years.
Chairperson Jang, who had served as the legal representative for Park Cheol-min, an enforcer for the Seongnam crime organization "International Mafia," is accused of claiming at a press conference and elsewhere in Oct. 2021, based on Park's statements, that when Lee was serving as Seongnam mayor, he received about 2 billion won in return for granting business favors to the International Mafia.
The same allegation was raised during the National Assembly's audit. Former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Yong-pan, who received Chairperson Jang's claim, presented a handwritten statement by Park and photos of bundles of cash during the Gyeonggi Province audit by the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee. However, controversy over falsehood erupted when the photos were revealed to be of Park's rental car and promotional images for private lending.
Prosecutors, in the initial investigation, decided not to indict, judging that Chairperson Jang reported the matter believing Park's words to be true. The case was sent to trial in May 2023 after a request for adjudication on prosecution by the Democratic Party of Korea was accepted by the court.
The first trial court acquitted Chairperson Jang, saying it was difficult to see that there was awareness of publishing false information. But the appellate court reversed. The appeals court said it was "reasonable (proper) to view that, at the very least, Jang recognized the possibility that the disputed facts could be false and still published them," found Jang guilty, and sentenced Jang to one year in prison, suspended for two years.
The appellate court also noted, "The defendant, without securing objective materials sufficient to clearly prove the facts, held a press conference relying only on unrelated photos of bundles of cash and the statements of Park Cheol-min and others, and published false facts."