The arrest warrant re-requested by the police for Cha Ga-won, Chairman of One Hundred Label, who is facing allegations of fraud amounting to 30 billion KRW, has been rejected again by the prosecution.
According to legal circles on the 18th, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office rejected the arrest warrant for Chairman Cha, which had been requested by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Financial Crime Investigation Unit on charges including fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes, and demanded further investigation.
This is reported to be the second rejection. The police had previously requested an arrest warrant for Chairman Cha earlier this month, but the prosecution rejected it, requesting supplementary investigation. Following additional inquiries, the police re-applied for the warrant on the 15th.
Chairman Cha is accused of proposing a business utilizing the intellectual property (IP) of artists under his label to the listed company knowmerce, receiving an advance payment of 24.2 billion KRW, and failing to fulfill the terms of the contract. Apart from this case, the police are reportedly also investigating fraud allegations related to a 5 billion KRW jeonse (lump-sum housing lease) contract. The total scale of damages identified by the police is said to reach approximately 30 billion KRW.
The police are focusing their investigation on whether Chairman Cha entered into the contract and received the large advance payment despite knowing that the business would be difficult to execute. On the other hand, Chairman Cha's side has refuted these claims, arguing that the case is a matter of civil breach of contract rather than a criminal offense.
Attorney Hyun Dong-yeop of the law firm Hwageum, legal counsel for Chairman Cha—who had previously expressed confidence after the warrant application by stating, "I would stake my career as a lawyer on this"—claimed in a statement, "The harm caused by the concentration of investigative power in the police following the amendment of the Criminal Procedure Act has been revealed through this warrant rejection."
He further stated, "As a representative of the public interest, I pay tribute to the prosecution for making an accurate judgment. Even though the initial accusation itself does not constitute a crime, an illegal investigation was conducted with the premise of detention and referral. As seen in the case of HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk, I express concern over the repeated practice of warrant applications by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Metropolitan Investigation Unit."
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)