The 30 billion won saved by Roh Tae-woo's 'holding on' has been reduced to 1.3 trillion... Can that money be recovered?

[Controversy over collection of slush funds revealed late]
The existence of 30 billion won that was kept despite paying hundreds of billions of fines
Claiming the return of illegal funds “is against social justice”
Retroactive application is not possible due to the person's death... Difficult to collect

“It is a problem even if the daughter benefits from the slush fund provided by Roh Tae-woo. Where is the justice here?”

In the judgment of the appellate court in the divorce case between SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Art Center Butterfly Director Noh So-young,The existence of former President Roh Tae-woo’s slush fund played a decisive role.When it became known that he had doneControversy over ‘whether this ruling is in line with social justice’This is strong. Considering the fact that former President Roh was sentenced to 17 years in prison for bribery, there is a high possibility that the slush fund was also 'dark money', and public opinion is questioning whether it is right to recognize the money as a 'dowry' for the daughter and pass on the fruits of the expansion of large corporations to the children.

However, although this point itself may be possible, there is little possibility of legally returning it to the state.Considering the nature of family litigation that does not ask about the source of funds and the fact that the case itself is very old, the consensus in the legal community is that realistically, there is no way to collect money.am.

According to the Hankook Ilbo report on the 2nd, the Seoul High Court's Family Affairs Division 2 (Chief Kim Si-cheol) was mindful of the illegality of the funds provided by former President Roh to former Chairman Choi Jong-hyun, Chairman Choi's father, in 1991, and considered this as a key element in property division. The court also stated, “If the relevant circumstances had been revealed (early), the government may have filed a collection lawsuit against former Chairman Choi.”

Although the court's logic for including money that was likely to be accumulated illegally in the property division is not understandable at first glance, the legal profession explains that this was due to the characteristics of family trials. For the purpose of divorce proceedings where 'dissolution of the relationship' is an issue, only the contributions of both parties are considered in the division of assets, and even if some of the assets are suspected to be criminal proceeds, the court cannot be held criminally liable ex officio.

Attorney Lee Hyeon-gon (Saeol Law Firm), who served as a family court judge for a long time, said, "When dividing property, the principle is not to ask about the illegality of the formation process," and pointed out, "The moment this is taken into consideration, the question will arise, 'Is it okay for one party to monopolize illegal assets?'" Attorney Kim Shin-hye (Hankyoung Law Firm), who specializes in divorce, added, “Collection ordering the payment of criminal proceeds is also a type of punishment, so it is a part that must go through a separate criminal trial (from the family trial).” Ultimately, the conclusion is that deciding whether to recover slush funds is outside the scope of divorce litigation.
 

then Is it possible to proceed with a new lawsuit against former President Roh's family to collect the proceeds of crime?. The problem here is that former President Roh died and the right to prosecution disappeared. Even in the 1990s, the existence of this slush fund was never revealed even in a large-scale investigation to find financial links between former President Roh and Sunkyung Group (formerly SK). In particular, former President Roh relieved himself of judicial responsibility by fully paying the 262.8 billion won fine confirmed by the Supreme Court during his lifetime.

It is difficult to hold SK responsible. The law related to concealment of criminal proceeds was enacted in 2001 after the incident. This is why the appellate court in this divorce suit said, “At least as of 1991, even if former Chairman Choi received financial support from former President Roh, it cannot be said to be illegal.” A lawyer who used to be a chief judge explained, “The charges cannot be applied because of the statute of limitations and retroactive application issues.”

There are arguments suggesting the enactment of a special law as a solution, but skeptical views are still dominant.Attorney Kim Gook-il (Daeryun Law Firm), a former prosecutor, mentioned the possibility of unconstitutionality, saying, “Even if a special law is created, criminal punishment is the principle of being exclusive to ‘people,’ so it is difficult now that the parties involved are dead.”

However, although it is difficult to hold them legally responsible, in the eyes of public opinion, it seems difficult to avoid the self-deprecating assessment that 'successful collusion between politics and business' led to 'successful concealment of slush funds.' Former President Roh's wife, Kim Ok-sook, entrusted a lump sum of money to a relative or acquaintance and separately recorded the amount (Kim Ok-sook memo).Among Kim Ok-sook's memos, the only thing that was not known to the world until the end was the 30 billion won given to her in-laws (Seon-kyung).did it This is a situation that shows that former President Roh and his wife may have kept quiet for the sake of their daughter even though they were being fined hundreds of billions of won. One chief judge in the metropolitan area said of this, “The daughter benefited from the fact that both families hid its existence for 30 years.“He pointed out.
 

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