A Seoul court judge has been put under emergency arrest on suspicion of taking bribes from a notorious loan shark in return for legal favors, prosecutors said Monday.
The 43-year-old judge, identified only by his surname Choi, is accused of receiving 600 million won (US$557,000) in kickbacks from the private money lender since 2009, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said. The usurer has been standing trial on separate charges for the past two and a half years.
“Because some of Choi’s relatives have been involved, we thought if Choi was questioned without detention, there is a chance he might ask them to change their testimony to his favor,” a prosecution official said in explaining the absence of a warrant.
“We also took into account that he appeared psychologically unstable.” Choi had been probed since last April, and was most recently questioned a day earlier.
He reportedly told prosecutors that he had only borrowed 300 million won from a different businessman and that he had paid it off in six months.
But prosecutors said the money appeared to have been from the loan shark who is standing trial and whom Choi met when he was a prosecutor in 2008. Choi was in charge of the man’s drug-related case, and the two realized they were from the same hometown.
This marks the first time in eight years that a sitting judge has been investigated over bribery allegations. The last time was in 2006, when a Seoul High Court judge faced similar charges.
Prosecutors said they plan to request a formal arrest warrant for the judge before the emergency arrest period expires after two days. They also said they are considering filing criminal charges against three prosecution officials who allegedly took tens of millions of won in bribes from the same businessman. (Yonhap)
