According to the legal community, Park Soo-hong appeared as a witness at the fourth trial on charges of violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (embezzlement) by his older brother, Mr. Park (54), and his wife, held at the Seoul Western District Court Criminal Agreement Division 11 (Chief Judge Bae Seong-joong) hearing on the 15th. do.
This is Park Soo-hong's first time appearing in court in person since Mr. Park and his wife were handed over to trial. Park Soo-hong is expected to directly reveal the facts of the damage through witness questioning. Previously, Mr. Park's lawyer also applied for Mr. Park Soo-hong's parents as witnesses, but it was reported that Park Soo-hong was scheduled to appear alone as the prosecution opposed the case for witness protection reasons.
Mr. Park and his wife are accused of embezzling Park Soo-hong's appearance fees and income worth 6.2 billion won while running two entertainment agencies that Park Soo-hong belonged to over the past 10 years. Currently, Mr. Park is being tried while in custody, and his wife is being tried without detention.
The prosecution alleged that from 2011 to 2021, Mr. Park spent 1.17 billion won for the purpose of purchasing real estate, 90 million won in unauthorized use of other funds, 90 million won in use of agency credit cards, 2.9 billion won in unauthorized withdrawals from the complainant's personal account, and a salary remittance method using false employee registration. It is suspected that 1.9 billion won was stolen.
However, it was judged that a number of life insurance-related suspicions, including non-payment of the settlement agreement according to the agreement, were difficult to constitute a crime.
Mr. Park acknowledged some of the charges in the previous trial, but denied most of the charges of embezzlement, such as using a corporate card and paying false wages.
Meanwhile, Park Soo-hong also filed a lawsuit against his brother and his wife in June last year, claiming 8.6 billion won in damages.
Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr