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Forfeited assets of former President Chun worth more than $1m returned to Korea
- Date2015-11-10
- Hit2,115
The Ministry of Justice of Korea announced that former President Chun Doo Hwan's assets in the US worth $1,126,951 (circa KRW 1.3 billion) were returned to the Korean government.
Kim Hyun-woong, Korea's Minister of Justice, met with US Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch in Washington DC, at 11 a.m. local time on November 9, and received from Attorney General Lynch the memorandum on the return of the forfeited assets of former President Chun's family members and associates. The Ministry of Justice of Korea said that the US Department of Justice concluded all the necessary steps to return the forfeited assets of former President Chun's family members and associates.
In 1996, a criminal court in Korea convicted former President Chun of bribery and other offences under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes, and ordered him to pay approximately $212 million (KRW 220 billion) in criminal penalties. However, since he had not paid most of the criminal penalties, the Anti-Corruption Department of the Korean Supreme Prosecutors' Office opened a money laundering investigation in 2013 to recover the bribery proceeds.
In August that year, the Ministry of Justice of Korea requested the US Department of Justice to trace and freeze the assets that may have been laundered to the US by former President Chun's family members and associates. In February last year, the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the US seized approximately $720,000, which was traced to the sale of real estate property of Mr. Chun's son in Newport Beach, California. In August 2014, the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) froze a secured investment worth roughly $500,000, and the US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit to forfeit the investment security.
The Ministry of Justice of Korea said, "This is the first case to forfeit the proceeds of corruption laundered to the foreign soil by high-ranking officials and their family members working in the partnership between the Korean and the US law enforcement authorities, and the Korean government will continue to make aggressive efforts to recover criminal proceeds through international cooperation."
Kim Hyun-woong, Korea's Minister of Justice, met with US Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch in Washington DC, at 11 a.m. local time on November 9, and received from Attorney General Lynch the memorandum on the return of the forfeited assets of former President Chun's family members and associates. The Ministry of Justice of Korea said that the US Department of Justice concluded all the necessary steps to return the forfeited assets of former President Chun's family members and associates.
In 1996, a criminal court in Korea convicted former President Chun of bribery and other offences under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes, and ordered him to pay approximately $212 million (KRW 220 billion) in criminal penalties. However, since he had not paid most of the criminal penalties, the Anti-Corruption Department of the Korean Supreme Prosecutors' Office opened a money laundering investigation in 2013 to recover the bribery proceeds.
In August that year, the Ministry of Justice of Korea requested the US Department of Justice to trace and freeze the assets that may have been laundered to the US by former President Chun's family members and associates. In February last year, the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the US seized approximately $720,000, which was traced to the sale of real estate property of Mr. Chun's son in Newport Beach, California. In August 2014, the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) froze a secured investment worth roughly $500,000, and the US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit to forfeit the investment security.
The Ministry of Justice of Korea said, "This is the first case to forfeit the proceeds of corruption laundered to the foreign soil by high-ranking officials and their family members working in the partnership between the Korean and the US law enforcement authorities, and the Korean government will continue to make aggressive efforts to recover criminal proceeds through international cooperation."
