The special counsel team of Min Joong-ki sought six years in prison for former Director General prosecutor Kim Sang-min, who received a suspended sentence at trial for handing over an expensive painting to Kim Keon-hee in return for a nomination request.
On Apr. 17, at the sentencing hearing for the former prosecutor held by the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 6-2 (High Court Judges Park Jeong-je, Min Dal-gi, and Kim Jong-woo), the special counsel team asked for three years in prison for violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act and three years for violating the Political Funds Act, along with a forfeiture of about 41.3 million won. The sentencing date is on May 8.
The special counsel team said, "Even without an authenticity certificate, the painting in this case is reasonably estimated to exceed 1 million won, so it is appropriate to view it as property worth at least more than 1 million won," and noted, "It is clear that the defendant violated the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act."
The former prosecutor's side argues that the painting is a forgery with no real value, so the charge cannot stand. The attorney explained that if accepting a worthless forgery is punished merely because one thought it was genuine, that would clearly run counter to the principle of legality in criminal law.
In a final statement, the former prosecutor said, "In the prosecution's organizational culture, superiors do not impose expense burdens on subordinates," and added, "For anyone who has served in the prosecution, it is hard to imagine bypassing a senior (former President Yoon Suk-yeol) and making a gift solicitation to his wife. It is unimaginable that I would meet Mrs. Kim while skipping the president."
Before the summation, the court in the afternoon called in officials from the Korea Art Appraisal Research Center and the Korea Galleries Association as witnesses to hear appraisal opinions on the painting. The center and the association issued conflicting appraisals of the seized item as "genuine" and "forgery," respectively.
Earlier, the former prosecutor was indicted and detained in Oct. last year on charges that after purchasing Lee Ufan's painting "From Point No. 800298," worth about 1.4 billion won, he delivered it to Mrs. Kim around Feb. 2023 while requesting, among other things, a nomination for the Apr. 10, 2024 general election. He is also accused of receiving 42 million won from a person surnamed Kim, a businessperson, under the pretext of election vehicle lending fees and insurance payments while preparing to run in the general election.
At the first trial, only the charge of violating the Political Funds Act was found guilty on grounds that there was a possibility the painting had not been delivered to Mrs. Kim, and the former prosecutor was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for one year.