SEOUL – South Korea’s prosecution on Oct 17 announced it would not indict First Lady Kim Keon-hee for her alleged involvement in a 63.6 billion won (S$61 million) investment fraud, effectively clearing her of remaining legal risks.

       The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said in a press release it would drop charges against Ms Kim as there is a lack of evidence that she had been aware of what was found to be a pump-and-dump scheme when trading stocks of the targeted companies in the early 2010s.

       With Oct 17’s decision, all criminal cases concerning Ms Kim were closed.

       The decision came years after a criminal complaint was filed against Ms Kim in April 2020. The prosecution carried out a closed-door interrogation of Ms Kim in July. No first lady in South Korea’s modern history has been put to a court trial.

       The prosecution found six accounts owned by Ms Kim with records of trading the targeted stocks involved in the investment fraud.

       One of them was highly disputed as Ms Kim was found to have sought investment proceeds soon after a phone call with Mr Kwon Oh-soo, convicted former chair of listed import car distributor Deutsche Motors and a key figure behind the investment fraud.

       The prosecution made the case for Ms Kim’s innocence, claiming there was no proof that Ms Kim had been aware of Mr Kwon’s involvement in the scheme at the time of the phone conversation.

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       It also noted that Ms Kim went on to trade stocks following the phone call because she “trusted” Mr Kwon, adding that Ms Kim was unlikely to predict that he, the head of a publicly traded company, would have masterminded an investment fraud that involved his own company.

       Mr Kwon was handed a three-year suspended sentence in an appellate court ruling in September.

       The prosecution also acquitted Ms Kim regarding the rest of her accounts, either due to statute of limitations, weak connection to the fraud or a lack of evidence that she was aware of her trust account managers’ involvement in the pump-and-dump investment scheme.

       The decision contrasts that regarding a man, identified only by his surname Son, who was found guilty in the September court ruling of aiding and abetting the stock manipulation crime by entrusting his accounts to the scammers. The court ruling overturned the lower court’s decision that acquitted Son. The prosecution said that, unlike Ms Kim’s case, it was evident that Son had been associated with the scammers.

       President Yoon Suk-yeol told reporters in December 2021 during a presidential election campaign that Ms Kim had “taken losses amounting to tens of millions of won in the trades,” but according to the prosecution on Oct 17, Ms Kim and her mother had rather gained 2.3 billion won from trades connected with the fraud.

       Oct 17’s announcement prompted an outcry from the liberal opposition party, as the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) had floated a special counsel Bill to investigate President Yoon’s wife that same day. Similar Bills have been vetoed twice throughout Mr Yoon’s term since May 2022 and none was able to override the veto in the revoting session.

       Representative Jo Seoung-lae, DPK’s senior spokesperson, said on Oct 17 that the vindication will become the impetus behind renewed calls for a special counsel investigation through new legislation, saying the public will no longer fall for the prosecution’s claims of justice.

       Probes targeting Ms Kim are also under way at independent investigative agency Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials surrounding the alleged anti-graft rule violations, and her alleged influence peddling on the ruling People Power Party’s electorate candidate selection process ahead of the April general election.

       Earlier on Oct 2, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office closed another case concerning Ms Kim’s alleged anti-graft law violation in a high-profile “Dior bag scandal,” in which she received a luxury Christian Dior handbag before a spy camera.

       The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office is scheduled to undergo a parliamentary audit on Oct 18. THE KOREA HERALD/ ASIA NEWS NETWORK