Top court, prosecution at odds over submitting documents

Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Meong-su, center, enters the Supreme Court building in Seoul, Tuesday, without answering questions from reporters. / Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

The prosecution is locking horns with the Supreme Court over the latter's refusal to hand over documents related to the power abuse scandal surrounding its former chief.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office is investigating allegations that former Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae used trials as bargaining chips in his dealings with the presidential office over organizational changes. Yang retired last September after ending his six-year term in office.

On Tuesday, prosecutors received the 410 files that had to do with the allegations from the National Court Administration (NCA), with personal details sealed due to privacy issues.

“After assessing the prosecution request for document submission, we handed in those deemed unrelated to official secrets and deemed to have enough relevance,” NCA Chief Justice Ahn Chul-sang said.

However, the NCA failed to submit the hard disk that the investigators believe is a key piece of evidence, citing confidentiality.

The NCA found the documents after three internal probes, but the prosecution's position is that they cannot avoid an investigation, claiming the internal audits were not intended to check the allegations, and they need the computer hard disk.

In addition, the prosecution is seeking to secure the disk as part of efforts to get evidence accepted by a court if those involved in the scandal deny the allegations because files and documents they have might not be accepted as evidence.

The disk can show when the files and documents were written, enabling investigators to check what those involved in the allegations did at the time they were created.

“Those from the NCA internal probes were neither judges nor investigators,” said an official of the prosecution.

The Supreme Court, however remains cautious about handing over physical records to the prosecution.

It claims the hard disk includes large amounts of documents and files that have nothing to do with the allegations.

With the Supreme Court refusing to hand over the hard disk, there is growing speculation that the prosecution may begin a compulsory investigation, including searching the top court.

However, the prosecution is in a position to monitor how the situation develops, saying that it is expecting the Supreme Court will cooperate with its investigation.

Earlier this month, Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Meong-su, Yang's successor, said he would closely cooperate with the prosecutors' investigation into the case, providing the necessary data secured by an internal investigation, including classified documents, in due course to prosecutors.

Handing over the documents, meanwhile, the Supreme Court said the computer hard disks used by former NCA head Park Byung-dae as well as by Yang have been damaged and their data cannot be recovered. Park is seen as another key accomplice in the scandal.

The allegation against the former top court chief is that Yang gave verdicts in politically sensitive trials that were favorable to the administration to get presidential aides for then-President Park Geun-hye to support his bid to create a de facto Second Supreme Court.