Prosecutors request arrest warrant for Cho Kuk’s wife

Oct 22, 2019, 09:17 am

By AsiaToday reporters Lee Wook-jae

Prosecutors on Monday filed an arrest warrant for former Justice Minister Cho Kuk’s wife, Chung Kyung-shim, 55 days after the prosecution launched an investigation into corruption allegations surrounding Cho’s family.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office sought an arrest warrant for Chung on eleven charges, including obstructing business, insider trading, embezzlement and withholding evidence.

“The physical and personal evidence obtained during the investigation showed that the allegations of crimes are fully found and the seriousness of the crimes was recognized,” a prosecution official said. “We plan to fully explain to the court about allegations of crime and its significance as well as concerns of destroying evidence in the upcoming warrant review.”

Chung is already standing trial on charges of fabricating a private document, by issuing a college presidential citation at Dongyang University where she is a professor, and delivering it to her daughter.

The prosecution, which continued the investigation, judged that Chung submitted the fake certificate to a number of medical schools in the country and obstructed the schools’ admissions process.

In addition, Chung is accused of falsely receiving allowance by registering her daughter as an assistant at Dongyang’s English Education Center supervised by her at the time, thereby violating the subsidy management law.

As for the investment in the private equity fund (PFE), Chung faces charges of embezzlement, violation of capital and concealing criminal proceeds regarding the Cho family’s investments in PEF. Prosecutors believe she took part in insider trading and embezzling in connection with an equity fund run by a relative of Cho.

The prosecution also concluded that Chung requested her asset manager changer hard disks in her computers in order to destroy evidence.

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