Former Seoul City Council member Ok Jae-eun was sentenced to 7 years in prison and fined 400 million won in the first trial on bribery charges... Prosecutors also appeal the ‘light sentence’

7 years in prison, 400 million won fine in first trial... Prosecutors also appeal for unfair sentencing, saying “the sentence was light”

(Suwon = Yonhap News) Reporter Kwon Jun-woo = Former Seoul City Council member Ok Jae-eun, who was sentenced to severe punishment in the first trial on charges of taking hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes from educational equipment suppliers, strongly denied the charges in the first trial of the appeals court, saying, "The money received was not a bribe, but compensation for legitimate business services."

At the first trial of the appeal trial on charges of violation of the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (bribery) and other charges against former Rep. Ok and others held by Suwon High Court's Criminal Division 2 (Judges Geon-woo Kim, Jae-nam Lim, and Jeong-hee Seo) on the 9th, former Rep. Ok stated the reason for the appeal, saying, "There was a misunderstanding of the facts and the law."

Former Rep. Ok's lawyer said, "The essence of the case is whether the nature of the money paid by the companies is compensation (bribe) for the defendant's duties, or whether it is compensation for the business services of the intermediaries." He emphasized, "The money in question is only compensation for services paid by issuing tax invoices according to the business contract, and has nothing to do with the defendant's duties."

He continued, "The reason that none of the company officials who were identified as bribe donors was indicted for bribery is because they also recognized the money as business compensation in commercial transactions," and urged, "At the very least, the indictment should be changed to a bribery charge or acquitted."

In order to prove his claim, former Rep. Ok requested a fact-finding inquiry into the district office and tax office, asking for confirmation that the budget had not actually been spent at the Jung-gu Office, where he had requested an increase in the budget, and the court adopted the request.

The accomplices who were also indicted also appealed for leniency, saying that the sentence in the first trial was too heavy or that the facts were misunderstood.

Mr. Lim, who was sentenced to eight years in prison in the first trial, denied conspiracy to commit bribery, saying, "Giving the money received as a fee to former lawmaker Ok was only a repayment of a loan and not a distribution of profits."

Mr. Shim, who was sentenced to five years in prison, also argued, "It is unfair to punish him as a co-principal by acknowledging his participation in the same crime as former lawmaker Ok, a public official, and he should be viewed as an aiding and abetting criminal."

On the other hand, the prosecution dismissed all of the defendants' appeals and appealed, citing unfair sentencing, asking for a heavier sentence than the original trial.

Previously, former lawmaker Ok and others were indicted on charges of taking a total of 340 million won in rebates from four education equipment suppliers in the Seoul area for about a year from the end of 2022 in exchange for budget planning and concluding supply contracts.

Last June, the first trial court found former lawmaker Ok guilty on all counts and sentenced him to seven years in prison and a fine of 400 million won.

The accomplices, Mr. Lim and Mr. Sim, were sentenced to 8 years in prison and 5 years in prison, respectively, and the mediator, Mr. Lee, was sentenced to 3 years in prison and 5 years of probation.

Mr. Lee admitted most of the charges at the trial that day.

The next appeal hearing for former Rep. Ok and others is scheduled to be held on October 16 at 2 p.m.