Suspects posed as legal team head, forged documents

Victims found another contractor already at work on site

Appeals court upholds suspended sentences

Demolition work under way in the Baeksa Village area of Junggye-bon-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul. This image is not directly related to the article. [Yonhap]
Demolition work under way in the Baeksa Village area of Junggye-bon-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul. This image is not directly related to the article. [Yonhap]

A group that defrauded a development company of 500 million won ($368,000) by falsely promising to award a demolition contract for a redevelopment project has had its suspended prison sentences upheld on appeal. The suspects deceived victims by posing as a legal team head and presenting forged documents to make it appear they held actual demolition rights.

The Seoul High Court's Incheon branch, presided over by Chief Judge Jung Seung-gyu of the First Criminal Division, sentenced defendants A, 66, and B, 66, to three years in prison suspended for five years — the same terms handed down at trial — on charges of aggravated fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. Brokers C, 67, and D, 61, who assisted in the scheme, each received two-year prison terms suspended for four years, according to Yonhap.

The case dates to October 2023, when the suspects allegedly collected 500 million won from the heads of a development company under the guise of a construction deposit, leading them to believe they would be awarded the demolition work for a housing redevelopment project.

To lend credibility to the scheme, A fabricated a false identity and forged documents. He unilaterally signed a joint-project agreement with a developer that had no authority over the redevelopment, then had business cards printed identifying himself as the legal team head of a well-funded institution. He also impersonated a certified judicial scrivener.

A further forged an MOU related to the redevelopment project and a written pledge of contractor approval, then used those documents to present himself as holding demolition rights before delegating that purported authority to B.

B showed the forged documents to the victim company and claimed that the association head had been detained and that he had paid 1 billion won in kickbacks to secure the delegated authority to award the demolition contract. Brokers C and D connected the victims to the pair and collected fees totaling more than 110 million won.

Suspicion began to mount after the victims visited the site following the signing of the contract. Contrary to what they had been promised, another contractor was already carrying out demolition work there.

Even so, A and the others continued to lie, telling victims that the contractor currently on site would soon withdraw and that the city had issued formal demolition approval, investigators found.

The appeals court found the conduct serious, saying the defendants had "deceived victims out of 500 million won by pretending to be in a position to award the demolition contract, making the offense grave and the culpability heavy." It singled out A and B as the primary instigators, noting they had posed as a legal team head and submitted false documents.

However, the court took into account that A and B had reached settlements with the victims — promising to repay the losses and registering collateral mortgages — and that the victims did not seek punishment. Finding no change in circumstances that would warrant different sentences since the first ruling, the court dismissed the appeals filed by both the defendants and prosecutors.


jookapooka@heraldcorp.com