Police Leave Case Unattended for 4 Years After Receiving Request for Supplementary Investigation, Act Only 1 Month Before Statute of Limitations Expires

It has been revealed that the police failed to respond to a prosecutor's request for supplementary investigation for over four years due to an officer's oversight, only processing the case one month before the statute of limitations was set to expire.

In mid-June, the Seoul Suseo Police Station referred a case to the prosecution in which a victim had filed a complaint against a franchise nail salon for alleged violations of the Door-to-Door Sales Act.

This comes five years after the initial complaint was filed.

The complainant filed the case in 2021, claiming that shortly after purchasing a membership from the business, the branches closed down en masse without providing any guidance on refunds or consumer relief procedures.

It is reported that in addition to the complainant, there are dozens of other victims across the country, including in Seoul, Sejong, and South Gyeongsang Province, with confirmed damages exceeding 10 million won.

The police initially dismissed the complaint, citing insufficient evidence to prove the business's charges. However, following an objection filed by the complainant, the police resumed the investigation and referred the case to the prosecution in April 2022.

The prosecution determined that further investigation was necessary and sent the case back to the police, but the police did not issue any further disposition for about four years.

The police finally completed the supplementary investigation and re-referred the case about a month before the five-year statute of limitations for the charges was set to expire.

Regarding the delay in processing the case, the police explained that it was not an intentional postponement, but rather the result of a combination of a computer system error following the reorganization of the Korea Information System of Criminal Justice Services (KICS) and a mistake by the investigator in charge.

The Suseo Police Station stated that it has launched an internal inspection of the investigator in question to further verify the circumstances behind the delay in handling the case.

Reported by Kim Taewon | Video by Kim Na-on | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.