The chairman of a KOSDAQ-listed company, who was brought to trial on charges of aiding the escape of former Vice Chairman Lee Gi-hun, a key figure in the Sambu Engineering & Construction stock manipulation allegations, was sentenced to prison in the first trial.
The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Agreement Division 22 (Presiding Judge Cho Hyeong-woo, senior judge) on the 16th sentenced a person surnamed Lee, indicted on charges of harboring and aiding a fugitive, to 1 year and 6 months in prison. Prosecutors had sought a 3-year prison term.
The court sentenced a person surnamed Kim, who helped Lee, the former vice chairman, flee, to 1 year in prison. It handed suspended prison terms or fines to the remaining five accomplices.
The court viewed the crime as an organized scheme in which multiple people split roles to hide the former vice chairman ahead of the court's pre-arrest interrogation. The court said, "This offense was carried out in a meticulously organized and planned manner by multiple people dividing roles to help Lee Gi-hun evade and conceal himself ahead of the court's detention review, and the nature of the crime is poor." It added that investigative authorities spent considerable time and manpower tracking the former vice chairman, which in turn hindered the investigation.
The court found that the person surnamed Lee bore the greatest responsibility. The court said Lee was the principal offender who drew several people into the crime and enlisted accomplices even after confirming the former vice chairman's intent to flee. It also cited as an adverse factor that Lee, while under investigation for violating the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, attempted to stow away and stood trial in custody, and after being released on bail, committed the offense again.
Lee and others were brought to trial on charges that in July last year, after the former vice chairman went into hiding ahead of a warrant hearing, they provided a vehicle, communication tools, and a hideout, and even recruited a driver. Investigators determined that they provided the former vice chairman, while on the run, with a data egg, SIM cards, and lodging.
The former vice chairman was caught in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, 55 days after he fled. He was indicted and detained in September last year on charges that between May and June 2023 he took part in Sambu Engineering & Construction stock manipulation and pocketed about 36.9 billion won in illicit gains, and he is standing trial separately.