Former Shinhan Financial Group President Shin Sang-hun and former Shinhan Bank President Lee Baek-soon, who were indicted on charges of perjury in the trial over an illegal slush fund case, received final suspended prison sentences.
The Supreme Court's Third Division (presiding Justice Lee Heung-gu) said on the 10th that on Apr. 30 it finalized the lower court's ruling after remand in the retrial of Shin, who had been sent to trial on perjury charges, upholding a six-month prison term suspended for two years. In the same retrial, the lower court's ruling after remand that sentenced Lee to four months in prison, suspended for two years, was also finalized.
Shin and Lee had previously been indicted together and tried in the so-called "Namsan 300 million won case." The case involved allegations that, under orders from former Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Ra Eung-chan, Lee created an illegal slush fund and in Feb. 2008, just after the 17th presidential election, delivered 300 million won as a purported congratulatory payment on the election of former President Lee Myung-bak to the side of his older brother, former lawmaker Lee Sang-deuk.
In connection with the case, Shin and Lee were found guilty in 2017 of embezzling about 260 million won of Shinhan Bank funds and respectively received a confirmed fine of 20 million won and a sentence of one year and six months in prison.
When they were tried in the "Namsan 300 million won" case, they were indicted on charges of perjury for taking the stand as opposing witnesses and lying about the process of raising and delivering the 300 million won.
In the first and second trials, the courts acquitted Shin and Lee, finding they could not be punished because they held the status of "defendants" during the proceedings. The first trial court held that a co-defendant in a co-offender relationship cannot be a witness against another co-defendant, so the crime of perjury could not be established. The second trial court recognized that a co-defendant can be a witness but said they still have defendant status regarding questions about their own criminal facts, so they could not be punished for perjury.
However, the Supreme Court quashed and remanded the case, saying, "Each case against the defendants was separated from the proceedings of the other co-defendant, so a co-defendant who is a co-offender is qualified to testify against the other co-defendant."
In Feb. last year, the Seoul Central District Court, in the remand trial, sentenced Shin and Lee to suspended prison terms in line with the Supreme Court's determination. The court said, "As witnesses, the defendants took an oath and testified without invoking the right to refuse to testify in response to the prosecutor's questions about their own criminal facts," adding, "It is reasonable to view the defendants' statements as false testimony contrary to their recollection."
The Supreme Court dismissed the retrial appeal, finding that the remand judgment did not misunderstand the legal principles.