▲ Former Supreme Court Justice Kwon Soon-il leaves the Seoul Central District Court after his first-instance sentencing hearing on the 11th.
Former Supreme Court Justice Kwon Soon-il, whose case was dismissed in the first trial after being charged with providing legal services for Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management without registering as a lawyer, will now face an appellate court review.
The prosecution filed an appeal today, June 18, with the Seoul Central District Court against the first-instance ruling.
On the 11th, Judge Kim Dae-gyu of the Seoul Central District Court, presiding over the case, dismissed the charges against the former justice, citing unlawful investigation procedures by the prosecution.
A dismissal of indictment is a procedural decision where the court terminates a case without examining its merits, typically when a prosecutor's indictment violates legal regulations.
The court determined that the charge of violating the Attorney-at-Law Act, applied to the former justice, did not fall within the scope of crimes for which prosecutors are authorized to initiate investigations under the Prosecutors' Office Act.
The court pointed out that the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office acted unlawfully by initiating an investigation, including questioning the suspect, after a criminal complaint was filed in September 2020.
The prosecution transferred the case to the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency in January 2022, only to take it back in September of the following year. The court ruled that this re-transfer was also unlawful.
The reasoning is that judicial police officers hold the primary authority to decide whether to close an investigation and refer a case; however, the court found that the prosecution forced the transfer of the case even though the police had not exercised that authority at the time.
Kwon was indicted in August 2024 on charges of working as an advisor for Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management—a company majority-owned by Daejang-dong developer Kim Man-bae—and performing legal services, such as drafting legal documents, between January and August 2021 after his retirement, without registering as a lawyer with the Korean Bar Association.
During this period, Kwon received 150 million won in advisory fees from Hwacheon Daeyu.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.