Current police officer acquitted on charges of operating 'officer's hospital'... “Insufficient evidence”

A serving police officer who was indicted on charges of embezzling billions of won while running an 'office hospital' was found not guilty after a nearly two-year trial.

On the 12th, the Gwangju District Court's Suncheon Branch Criminal Division 1 (Chief Judge Kim Yong-gyu) acquitted police officer Choi (inspector), his wife Lee, doctor Kim, and nurse Cho, who were indicted on charges of aiding and abetting the charges, on charges of fraud and violation of the Medical Service Act under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

Mr. Choi and his wife were indicted in December 2024 on charges of running a hospital in Kim's name in Suncheon, Gwangju, Jeollanam-do from July 2020 to June 2023 and collecting 2.7 billion won in nursing and medical expenses.

The Medical Service Act prohibits unqualified persons from hiring medical professionals and opening and operating medical institutions in the name of medical professionals or non-profit corporations.

The court said, “It is an undeniable fact and highly inappropriate that (Mr. Choi and his wife) were significantly involved in the operation of the hospital, but there is no evidence to conclude that Mr. Kim, a medical professional, lost leadership and was in a subordinate position in running the hospital,” and added, “There are strong doubts as to whether a sufficient investigation has been conducted to confirm this (indictment fact).”

The court ruled, "In order to determine whether the hospital is an office manager, related matters such as distribution of operating profits and attribution must be confirmed, but we judged that there was not enough evidence to believe that Mr. Choi and others received a share of the profits."