[Anchor]
A man in his 50s who went into hiding for a staggering seven years without paying 650 billion won, the largest fine in history, has recently been apprehended by prosecutors. The man was the mastermind behind a gold bullion smuggling ring, and he was finally cornered in the jewelry district of Jongno, Seoul.
Reporter Kim Gyu-ri has our exclusive coverage.
[Reporter Kim Gyu-ri]
A residential area in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on the 21st of last month.
Prosecution investigators keep watch, and shortly after, a man stares intently at the spot where the investigators just walked past.
As the man disappears back into the alley, investigators rush in.
This is the moment when a man in his 50s, identified as Mr. A, was captured after going into hiding in July 2019 without paying a record-breaking 653.7 billion won in fines.
[(You know. The fine is quite substantial and there's also the matter regarding the gold bullion.) Yes.]
Mr. A was the mastermind of an international smuggling ring that smuggled gold bullion between South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong starting in 2015. He was sentenced in a 2019 first-trial ruling to two and a half years in prison and a fine of 1.3 trillion won for illegally exporting some 40,000 bars of 1kg gold bullion.
The market margin was around 40 billion won, but because the fine was calculated based on the original cost of the gold bullion, it amounted to an astronomical figure.
It became a hot topic at the time as it was the largest fine ever for a single case.
[Cho Jang-hyun / Public Relations Judge, Busan District Court at the time (January 15, 2019, '8 News'): The nature of the crime is poor because he actively and for a long time continued his offenses by exploiting ordinary citizens with temptations such as offering free trips to Japan.]
After his sentence was significantly reduced in an appellate trial half a year later, Mr. A was released the day after the verdict, and while his fine was cut in half, it still remained the highest in history.
Mr. A, who spent the next seven years hiding from the investigative net, could be seen calmly chatting with acquaintances at a cafe in recent CCTV footage secured by SBS.
Prosecutors spotted Mr. A in person for the first time in seven years at a cafe around the jewelry district in Jongno, Seoul.
[Kim Hak-rok / Execution Division, Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office: What was really unexpected was that he wasn't wearing a mask at all, and he just looked completely calm and unbothered like an ordinary person.]
After prosecutors traced CCTV footage to locate his hideout set up somewhere in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul, Mr. A was captured and placed back behind bars.
(Video by Lee Chan-su | Video Editing by Park Ji-in | Design by Bang Min-ju)
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[Anchor]
Though he was caught with great difficulty, this man is playing dumb, claiming he has no money to pay the fine. Because the law only allows up to three years of forced labor even if hundreds of billions of won in fines remain unpaid, he is currently serving an extravagant labor sentence in prison worth 660 million won per day.
Next is exclusive reporting by reporter An Hee-jae.
[Reporter An Hee-jae]
The pursuit of Mr. A gained momentum starting two months ago.
Wih discussions on amending the Criminal Procedure Act, including the abolition of investigative powers, gaining rapid momentum, prosecutors decided they needed to first catch the highest-amount delinquent while the prosecution organization still existed.
[Kim Hak-rok / Execution Division, Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office: (The draft amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act) stated that prosecution investigators would no longer be able to perform sentence execution duties. We had to process long-term unresolved cases, including Mr. A, within October...]
The reason Mr. A evaded capture despite being on the wanted list for the past seven years is that, unlike the criminal investigation stage, real-time location tracking is not easy during the sentence execution stage.
[Yeom Cheol-jin / Execution Division, Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office: Without search warrants or account warrants, we have no choice but to run around with our bodies day and night. If such warrants had been permitted, (we believe he could have been apprehended) in a much shorter time, not seven years.]
It was revealed that Mr. A evaded tracking by rotating multiple mobile phones and using the Telegram messenger registered under a Japanese alias.
At the time of his arrest, Mr. A protested by claiming, "The 5-year statute of limitations for the fine has expired." When prosecutors told him that the statute of limitations had been extended, he reportedly dug in his heels, claiming this time that he had no money to pay the fine.
Mr. A, who was dragged back to prison for refusing to pay his fine, is known to be serving a daily "emperor labor" sentence worth 660 million won.
This is because no matter how high the unpaid fine is, forced labor can only be imposed for a maximum of three years.
[Kim Hak-rok / Execution Division, Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office: It was disheartening. It turns out to be writing off 20 billion won in fines every month. I think (the system of confinement in a workhouse) should not be abused as a means to have high-amount fines written off.]
Total unpaid fines amounted to about 5.5 trillion won as of July this year. While about 10% will be reduced during Mr. A's imprisonment, tracking and recovering the remaining 90% remains a task for prosecutors and the prosecution office to be launched thereafter.
(Video by Kim Seung-tae | Video Editing by Jeon Min-gyu | Design by Park Cheon-woong)
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