Former Board of Audit and Inspection Secretary-General Yoo Byung-ho, who was accused of abusing personnel authority, lost an administrative suit demanding that police disclose the criminal complaint.
According to legal sources on the 25th, the 14th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court (Presiding Judge Lee Sang-deok) ruled against the plaintiff in March in Yoo's suit to cancel the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency chief's refusal to disclose information.
Previously, Yoo, who effectively led the Board of Audit and Inspection under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, was identified in an internal audit after the Lee Jae-myung administration took office in June last year for suspected abuse of authority to obstruct the exercise of rights and was reported to prosecutors in November.
The Board of Audit and Inspection said it had found indications that Yoo designated certain grade-4-and-above civil servants and ordered their rank and grade to be raised, and it filed the complaint directly.
In January, Yoo filed an information disclosure request to make public the complaint submitted by the Board of Audit and Inspection, but police redacted 70% of its contents and released only part of it, prompting Yoo to sue in objection to that decision.
However, the court found that the complaint falls under "non-disclosable information" as defined by the Information Disclosure Act.
It said disclosure could hinder investigative agencies' performance of duties because the complaint includes the names of those subject to performance evaluations and the evaluators, the subjects' words and behavior, and indications that Yoo exerted pressure.
The court said, "The redacted portions are matters to confirm the plaintiff's position through suspect questioning during future investigation," and held that "under not only the Information Disclosure Act but also the investigation rules of the Criminal Procedure Act, facts about persons related to the case and personal information cannot be inspected or copied by a suspect."