The Ministry of Justice has disciplined prosecutors who received large sums of money in entertainment from Kim Bong-hyun, a key figure in the Lime Asset Management incident, with a maximum of one month’s suspension.
According to legal circles on the 14th, the Ministry of Justice imposed a one-month suspension and a punitive fine amounting to approximately 3.49 million won, which is triple the amount received, on Prosecutor Na Ui-yeob of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office on the 9th. Prosecutors Yoo and Lim from the Incheon District and Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Offices, respectively, received reprimands and similar punitive fines of approximately 660,000 won.
Prosecutor Na and others are accused of receiving entertainment valued at more than 1 million won from former chairman Kim Bong-hyun at an entertainment establishment in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on July 18, 2019, through a lawyer known as Lee, who was introduced by Kim. This fact came to light when Kim revealed it through a letter from prison in October 2020.
The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, which investigated the case, indicted only Prosecutor Na in December 2020 for violating the Anti-Graft Act. Prosecutor Na's entertainment amount was 1.14 million won, exceeding 1 million won and thus constituting a violation, while the entertainment amounts received by Prosecutors Yoo and Lim were both 960,000 won, leading to the conclusion that they would not be subject to punishment.
Previously, in the first and second trials, Prosecutor Na received a not guilty verdict as the recognized value of the entertainment was reduced to below 1 million won, but in August last year, the Supreme Court overturned the verdict, stating that the assessment of entertainment expenses was incorrect.