Former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Young-seon, indicted on charges of disguising company legal advisory fees to receive 40.5 million won in illegal political funds from a wealthy individual, was given a suspended prison sentence in the first trial. She was acquitted of separate charges of leaking information on a candidate site for the Changwon national industrial complex and embezzling National Assembly policy development funds.
On the 10th, the Changwon District Court Criminal Division 2 (Presiding Judge Kim Seong-hwan) sentenced the former lawmaker, who was tried on charges including violating the Political Funds Act, to one year in prison, suspended for two years, and a fine of 1 million won. The court also ordered the forfeiture of 40.5 million won.
Kim was indicted on charges of receiving 40.5 million won in illegal political funds from a wealthy resident of Andong, North Gyeongsang, identified as A, by disguising the money as legal advisory fees for A's company between September 2021 and October 2022. The court found her guilty of this charge.
The court said, "Former lawmaker Kim, a politician with multiple terms in the National Assembly and a law license, would understand the purpose of the Political Funds Act better than anyone, yet received political funds in a way not recognized by law," adding, "After hearing that A's son hoped to enter politics, she used her personal network to support that plan; in terms of planning and proactivity, the act is not free from significant blame," explaining the sentencing reasons.
Kim was also brought to trial on charges that between January and March 2023 she provided specific information about a new candidate site for a national industrial complex in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, to real estate agent B, and that two of her siblings received that information through B and acquired land and buildings near the candidate site.
However, the court found it hard to conclude that Kim had obtained specific information related to the candidate site for the national industrial complex, and ruled her not guilty of charges including leaking official secrets. The two siblings of the former lawmaker who were indicted alongside her were also acquitted.
Kim also faced charges that, in collusion with accounting manager Kang Hye-kyung, she submitted a false service fee payment application and a polling report to the National Assembly Secretariat in December 2023 and embezzled 20 million won in policy development funds.
She was acquitted of this as well. The court determined that call recordings seized from Kang by investigators during a separate investigation were collected illegally and thus inadmissible, and that secondary evidence obtained on that basis was also inadmissible.
However, part of the charge that Kim failed to properly supervise accounting was found guilty, and a fine of 1 million won was imposed.
The court sentenced A, who gave illegal political funds to Kim, to eight months in prison, suspended for one year and six months.
Kang, who was indicted alongside Kim, was fined a total of 9 million won.
Kang was indicted on charges that, from August 2022 to November 2023, in connection with recommending Kim as the People Power Party candidate for the National Assembly in Changwon Uichang, she relayed 80.7 million won between Kim and "political broker" Myeong Tae-gyun, and that she failed to properly file accounting reports.
Regarding Kang, the court said, "In the process of Kim sending salary to Myeong in return for the nomination, she faithfully carried out the role of delivering the money, and while handling accounting duties, she recorded the accounting books contrary to the facts, failed to secure necessary receipts for expenditures, and improperly spent political funds on private expenses."
However, it added, "From the prosecution's investigation onward, she described misconduct by the highest levels of power and actively cooperated, providing investigative leads, thus qualifying as a public-interest whistleblower," and "there are circumstances making it difficult to hold only the defendant, who alone has confessed to the political fund transactions related to Kim's and Myeong's nomination, responsible."