How Can a Foreigner in Korea, Detained for a Financial Crime, Get a Suspension Despite Damning Evidence? [Actual Judgment Attached]

Caught within the Act: 15 days of detention, 3 rounds of interrogation

A person was arrested on the spot whereas withdrawing money utilizing greater than ten playing cards below others’ names. Inside 48 hours, an arrest warrant was issued, and he was detained in a detention middle for half a month throughout the investigation. He had already undergone three rounds of suspect interrogation. Through the first interrogation, he claimed that he had no alternative however to conform resulting from threats from a felony group, stating that he would have been harmed if he hadn’t adopted orders. Nonetheless, within the second and third interrogations, he recanted his assertion and invoked his proper to stay silent. His claims had been fully disregarded throughout the police investigation, and even the interpreter referred to as in by the police offered extremely unfavorable testimony towards him. It was at this level that he turned our regulation agency’s consumer.

Digital Monetary Transactions Act

He was indicted for violating the Digital Monetary Transactions Act (전자금융거래법) and the Legal Act (형법). 

Digital Monetary Transactions Act, Article 6, Paragraph 3, Subparagraph 3 

(3) Renting, lending, possessing, delivering, or distributing an entry medium with the intent to make use of it for a criminal offense or understanding that will probably be used for a criminal offense.

Right here, an entry medium (접근매체) refers to a way for digital monetary transactions, comparable to playing cards, passbooks, and so forth. The police regarded our consumer as a money withdrawal mule (현금수거책) for a fraud crime and arrested him.

Why Widespread Defenses Fail: The Futility of “I Didn’t Know” and “I Was Threatened”

Why do arguments like “I didn’t know” or “I had no alternative as a result of I used to be threatened” fail to steer the investigators in such instances? The first motive is that monetary crimes are thought-about to have a big impression on society, main investigative companies and courts to deal with them with the utmost seriousness. On this case, our consumer claimed that whereas touring in Korea, he was instructed by a felony group by way of Telegram to withdraw money. He said that he felt threatened and complied with their directions out of worry, believing that the felony group was monitoring and monitoring his each transfer. To his perplexity, nonetheless, there was no concrete proof remaining to help his declare, as the person who had instructed him to withdraw the money had erased the messages and deleted the chat room, leaving no hint of their communication.

The Actual Difficulties of Custody Investigations

Right here, we’d prefer to briefly clarify why custody investigations could be so daunting. From the consumer’s perspective, they’re subjected to immense emotional pressure in an unfamiliar atmosphere the place their freedom is severely restricted. Because of this, they might inadvertently say or do issues that might jeopardize their case.

From the angle of the investigative and judicial authorities, the necessities for issuing a warrant that curtails private freedom are rigorous. An arrest warrant could be issued when the prosecution request it and the court docket grants approval. The court docket meticulously assesses the grounds for detention, contemplating components such because the gravity of the offense, the probability of recidivism, and the potential hazard posed to victims and key witnesses. Consequently, the mere presence of an arrest warrant on the scene means that the court docket and investigative authorities have compelling causes to suspect the person’s involvement in a severe crime. For the suspect, because of this securing a positive end result is an uphill battle.

The notably difficult facets of this case had been twofold: firstly, the Korean courts deal with this sort of crime with nice severity, and secondly, our consumer was arrested below circumstances that strongly recommended his guilt. In such a case, if the consumer merely maintains his innocence with out contemplating the authorized context and the court docket’s perspective, it could create an insincere impression on the court docket. The vital level to grasp is that when deciding whether or not to confess fault and the way to take action, counting on widespread authorized information or emotional responses can result in disastrous penalties. The logic employed by authorized professionals could be totally completely different from that of most people.

Authorized Technique Below Extreme Circumstances

Regardless of the difficult circumstances, we tailored our technique. Given the existence of tangible and substantial proof (information of our consumer withdrawing money utilizing others’ playing cards and CCTV footage), and the truth that he already admitted his guilt, we aimed to display accountability and regret whereas concurrently requesting leniency from the court docket. Via a radical evaluation of our consumer, we uncovered favorable circumstances and proof and wove them right into a compelling narrative. We meticulously demonstrated with verifiable proof how our well-intentioned consumer unknowingly turned concerned in a criminal offense, why he couldn’t extricate himself after realizing one thing was amiss, and the way diligently and actually he had lived his complete life.

This idea could also be troublesome to grasp, however even in case you genuinely imagine in your innocence, expressing it with out contemplating the authorized context could result in damaging outcomes in court docket. Understanding this distinction is usually a profitable start line for you. After all, the choice to confess guilt and the precise strategies of presenting an enchantment must be fastidiously decided and strategized.

Proving Innocence: Overcoming Sparse Proof

Establishing our consumer’s alibi was one other matter of utmost significance. He was below better suspicion as a result of he had traveled to locations with inconvenient transportation and communication, and he was unable to show his innocence on his personal. Furthermore, regardless of the shortage of CCTV footage, as he primarily traveled to rural areas, we logically structured the proof to steer the court docket, which performed a pivotal function in securing a positive judgment. 

Ultimate Victory In opposition to the Odds 

Because of this, regardless of the felony related to possessing quite a few playing cards below others’ identify, our consumer was finally sentenced to 10 months in jail, however with the suspension of execution of sentence (집행유예). It is a system that sentences a defendant to a punishment, however postpones the execution of that punishment for a time frame, and if the defendant does nothing throughout that point, the punishment is just not executed. In different phrases, though the defendant was discovered responsible, the court docket won’t ship him to jail, however will monitor him, and if he doesn’t trigger hassle for some time, he shall be forgiven.

This case demonstrates that by totally understanding particular person circumstances and using tailor-made protection methods accordingly, it’s potential to attain favorable outcomes even in extremely disadvantageous felony instances.

We plan to proceed this collection, showcasing how we have now protected the rights of our shoppers in instances that appeared almost not possible to win.

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