Not Guilty Despite Falsified Sea Service Records Without Boarding Vessels... Court Rules It Is Merely 'Proof of Fact'

▲ Busan District Court

Executives and employees of a ship management company who fabricated false sea service records as if land-based workers had boarded actual vessels and registered them into the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries' computer system have been acquitted.

Busan District Court Judge Huh Seongmin (Criminal Division 10) announced today (September 18) that all 10 defendants, including Mr. A, who were indicted on charges of entering false information in official electronic records and uttering such records, were found not guilty.

According to the ruling, they were indicted for falsely applying for boarding and disembarking official certifications—making it appear as though land-based workers who had never actually boarded vessels had done so between 2018 and 2023—so that their sea service records would be registered in the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries' Port-Management Information System (PORT-MIS).

The investigation indicated that these false records were created to help some land-based workers accumulate the sea service experience required for higher positions or secure experience on specialized ships, while allowing the company to build a favorable track record to gain trust from foreign shipowners by portraying them as having worked as captains, chief engineers, or mates on oil and chemical tankers as well as LPG carriers.

However, the court ruled that the boarding and disembarking official certification records registered in the Port-Management Information System do not fall under the punishable offenses of "entering false information in official electronic records."

According to Supreme Court precedents, official electronic records subject to this crime must pertain to "rights and obligations," and records that merely prove facts are not included.

Judge Huh stated, "It is appropriate to view the electronic records of boarding and disembarking facts and official certification matters registered in the Port-Management Information System as records that function to publicly manage and confirm the existence of seafarer employment relations and the fact of boarding and disembarking ships, serving merely to prove facts."

At the same time, the court drew a line, clarifying that this ruling does not mean the act of submitting false documents to obtain boarding and disembarking certifications itself is legally unproblematic.

The court stated that whether the act of submitting false documents constitutes obstruction of official duties by fraudulent means, or whether obtaining maritime officer licenses through false sea service records constitutes a violation of the Ship Officers Act or the crime of entering false information on licenses, is a "separate issue."

In this case, these charges were not included in the indictment and thus were not subject to the court's judgment.

Accordingly, the court concluded that the entry of false information in official electronic records falls under "cases that do not constitute a crime" and acquitted all 10 defendants.

(Photo: Yonhap News)

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