Former prosecutor who took 100 million won from Nature Republic chief gets two-year sentence

A former senior prosecutor has received a final two-year prison sentence for taking 100 million won from former Nature Republic chief Jung Woon-ho in exchange for a request to stop an audit.

The Supreme Court’s First Division, led by Justice Seo Kyung-hwan, rejected the former prosecutor’s appeal on the 3rd and upheld the lower courts’ rulings. It also confirmed a forfeiture order of 92 million won.

The former prosecutor, identified by his surname Park, allegedly accepted the money in June 2014 after Jung asked him to approach a senior Board of Audit and Inspection official. Jung was pursuing a business to buy operating rights from a company that ran subway shopping areas and open a cosmetics store inside a station. The audit agency was examining how the operating company had been selected.

Park had attended high school with the senior official. According to the case, Jung used a cash courier to deliver the money while asking Park to intervene over the audit. Both the first- and second-instance courts found the allegations proven, accepting the credibility of statements from Jung and the cash courier. The appeals court also held that the request concerned a matter handled by a public official and rejected Park’s appeal.

The Justice Ministry dismissed Park in May 2017 for violating his duty of integrity and imposed an additional disciplinary payment of 100 million won. Park challenged the dismissal in court, but lost at trial in February 2022.