The special counsel team led by Min Joong-ki, which investigated several allegations involving Kim Keon-hee, confirmed a final judgment dismissing the indictment against a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) assistant director who had been charged with bribery uncovered during the probe into alleged favoritism in the route change of the Seoul–Yangpyeong Expressway.
The Supreme Court's Third Division (presiding Justice Lee Suk-yeon) on the 24th upheld a lower court ruling that dismissed the indictment against an assistant director surnamed Kim, whom the Kim Keon-hee special counsel team had brought to trial on bribery charges under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. If there are procedural defects or other issues with the prosecution's indictment, the court does not rule on guilt or innocence but deems the indictment invalid, dismisses it, and ends the case.
While serving as director of the Road Management Bureau at the Wonju Regional Office of Land Management in 2023, Assistant Director Kim was indicted on charges of receiving 35 million won in cash and a 1 million won gift certificate for golf equipment from the head of Construction Company A in return for helping A secure a contract for a national highway retaining wall method service.
The special counsel team, while investigating Assistant Director Kim in connection with the Yangpyeong Expressway allegations, discovered the bribery charge and brought the case to trial in October last year. The team viewed the investigation and indictment as lawful based on a provision of the special counsel act stating that crimes related to those recognized during the investigation into the Yangpyeong Expressway allegations also fall within the investigative scope.
In the first trial in January, the court dismissed the indictment, finding that Assistant Director Kim's bribery charge lacked a reasonable connection with the Yangpyeong Expressway allegations. The first-instance panel noted, "The case should have been transferred to an authority with investigative or prosecutorial power." The appellate court also dismissed the special counsel team's appeal and maintained the dismissal ruling.
The Supreme Court likewise found that the indictment in this case did not fall within the special counsel's investigative scope under the Kim Keon-hee special counsel act, and that investigation and indictment beyond that scope violated statutory provisions and were therefore invalid.
Assistant Director Kim was indicted in December last year on charges including abuse of power and obstruction of the exercise of rights related to the Yangpyeong Expressway allegations and is currently undergoing the first trial.