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Yoo Dong-gyu, former planning director of the Seongnam Development Corporation, and Kim Man-bae, major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, are among the key private developers convicted in the Daejang-dong development corruption case. / Source: Yonhap News

The appeal trial for private developers convicted in the Daejang-dong development corruption case has been assigned to the Criminal Division 3 of the Seoul High Court, a panel specializing in corruption cases.

The court announced Tuesday that the case against Kim Man-bae, major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, and four others indicted on charges including breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, will be reviewed by the Criminal Division 3, presided over by Judge Lee Seung-han.

The same division is also handling the appeal of President Lee Jae-myung’s perjury inducement case, which has remained pending since May, with hearings postponed until after the presidential election.

On October 31, the lower court found the defendants guilty of colluding through close ties formed via bribes and favors, calling it “a series of corruption crimes born of mutual entanglement.”

Kim Man-bae and Yoo Dong-gyu, former planning director at the Seongnam Development Corporation, were each sentenced to eight years in prison. Kim was ordered to forfeit 42.8 billion won, while Yoo was fined 400 million won and ordered to pay 8.1 billion won in additional forfeitures.

Jung Min-yong, a lawyer involved in project operations, received six years in prison, a 3.8 billion won fine, and 3.7 billion won in forfeitures. Nam Wook was sentenced to four years, and Jung Young-hak, the accountant who provided key recordings in the case, received five years. All five were taken into custody immediately after sentencing.

While the defendants appealed the ruling, the prosecution did not, missing the deadline on November 7. Under the Criminal Procedure Act, if only the defendants appeal, the appellate court cannot impose a harsher sentence than that given in the first trial.

This means the prosecution cannot seek to reverse the lower court’s partial acquittals or recover the hundreds of billions of won in illicit gains.

The developers were accused of exploiting insider information at Seongnam Development Corporation between August 2014 and March 2015, when Lee Jae-myung was mayor of Seongnam, to secure 7.88 trillion won in unfair profits while causing 4.89 trillion won in losses to the public corporation.

President Lee, accused in a separate trial of granting preferential treatment to the developers, has had his own proceedings suspended under Article 84 of the Constitution, which grants presidential immunity from prosecution while in office.

Meanwhile, controversy continues over whether senior officials pressured prosecutors not to appeal. Allegations of intervention by the Justice Ministry have surfaced, and Seoul Central District Prosecutor Jung Jin-woo resigned on November 8, adding to the turmoil within the prosecution.