‘Jang Ha-seong’s younger brother’ Jang Ha-won’s warrant dismissed again… Law “dispute over facts related to crime”

Jang Ha-won, CEO of Discovery Asset Management, escaped arrest again. CEO Jang is accused of taking 100 billion won in investment money from fund investors.

On the 24th, Chief Judge Yoo Hwan-woo of the Seoul Southern District Court in charge of warrants dismissed the request for an arrest warrant for CEO Jang and Mr. Kim, a former executive of Discovery Asset Management.

Chief Judge Yoo said, “There is a dispute over the facts and legal evaluation of the crime, and there appears to still be room for dispute over the legal principles related to the violation of the Capital Markets Act, so there is a need to fully exercise the right to defense for the suspect.”

In addition, it was judged that “quite objective evidence has already been collected through the prosecution’s search and seizure, and considering the suspect’s attitude toward interrogation, it is difficult to say that there is a risk of destruction of evidence or flight.”

CEO Jang and Mr. Kim are accused of receiving 109 billion won worth of investment from Discovery Fund investors by falsely reporting important information from August 2018 to April 2019.

Discovery Fund was sold through commercial banks and securities firms such as IBK Industrial Bank and Hana Bank from 2017 to April 2019, but redemptions were suspended due to problems such as incomplete sales and poor management by the management company, causing damage to individual and corporate investors.

Chief Judge Yoo also dismissed the arrest warrant for Mr. Yoon, who is accused of taking money in the name of brokerage and solicitation from the competent government office in connection with a business invested by Discovery Fund. Chief Judge Yoo judged, “It is difficult to say that there is room to dispute some of Mr. Yoon’s criminal charges and that there is a risk of destruction of evidence or flight.”

Previously, on September 8, the court dismissed all arrest warrants for CEO Jang and others, saying, “There appears to be room for legal dispute on some of the charges, and some lack sufficient explanation, so there is a need to guarantee the suspects a chance to defend themselves.”

At the time of the first arrest warrant application, the prosecution accused CEO Jang and others of operating a fund through Discovery Investment without registering a collective investment business from January 2016 to January 2019 (violation of the Capital Market Act) and placing fund funds in a place where they did not promise in advance. Charges of making unfair profits in the process of investment and use (a crime under the Aggravated Punishment Act for Specific Economic Crimes) were applied.

CEO Jang was arrested and indicted in July of last year on charges of leading the suspension of fund sales and redemptions (fraud under the Aggravated Punishment Act for Specific Economic Crimes and violation of the Capital Markets Act), but was acquitted in the first trial on December 30 of the same year and released. The court found that it was difficult to say that CEO Jang recognized in advance that the underlying assets of the sold fund were insolvent. This case is currently in appeal. Representative Jang is the younger brother of former Ambassador to China Jang Ha-seong, who served as the head of policy at the Blue House under the Moon Jae-in administration.

Lee Min-jeong ([email protected])