Judges, prosecuters huddle over Lone Star warrant

From left, Spreme Prosecutors' Office, Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and Seoul Central District Court.

Informal meeting on pending case called ’inappropriate’

Senior prosecutors and judges at the Seoul Central District Court met informally to discuss the repeated denial of an arrest warrant request for Yoo Hoe-won, 56, the head of Lone Star Funds’ Korean unit, found themselves embroiled in argument, as the court had twice rejected prosecutors’ request to detain Yoo.

Just prior to the meeting, the prosecution had just announced they would file their third warrant request for Yoo; they did so just following the meeting.

Lone Star, a Texas-based fund, stands accused of price fixing in its purchase of Korea Exchange Bank’s credit-card division in 2003. Currently, the prosecution has only a matter of weeks to investigate the accusations and come forth with enough evidence to press formal charges. It seeks the arrest of Yoo in order to have more easy access for investigatory purposes, as well as to prevent him from fleeing the country. In South Korea, there are two types of investigatory arrest warrants, which can allow prosecutors to hold a suspect for either 48 hours or 20 days, respectively, without his being formally charged with a crime. Prosecutors are seeking the 20-day warrant for You.

Lee Sang-hun, the court’s senior judge for criminal cases, Min Byeong-hun, a warrant judge, Park Yeong-su, a senior prosecutor at the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office, and Chae Dong-wook, an investigation planning officer met at a restaurant in Seoul on November 10, a day after prosecutors said they would seek a warrant to arrest Yoo for third time. The meeting of the men was proposed by the court.

Justice Lee said he proposed the meeting with Park, who was a classmate with him at the Judicial Research and Training Institute, aimed at removing misunderstanding over the court’s repeated refusal to grant arrest warrants in investigations involving Lone Star. Chae and Justice Min joined the meeting because they have battled via newspaper column over the investigation, according to Justice Lee.

However, most experts deemed the informal meeting between an investigator and a judge to discuss a case an inappropriate action. Ha Chang-u, a spokesman at the Korea Lawyers’ Association, said that "if they talk about an indictment on a certain investigation that has not seen an arrest yet, it would be very inappropriate. Outsiders could possibly view the meeting as a negotiation, as those involved met ahead of an [official legal] review on whether to issue a warrant."

After word of the meeting spread, the court and the prosecution told different versions of what was discussed.

The prosecution said that "officials at the court make remarks that could be interpreted as a proposal for us to indict Yoo without arrest."

However, Justice Min said, "After saying that it may be difficult to issue a warrant against Yoo if prosecutors seek the warrant over and over on the same accusations, I added, in criminal prosecution cases it may be the best thing to indict after the investigation is over."

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