▲ Kim Keon-hee
The Supreme Court has postponed the final ruling on the appeal of Kim Keon-hee regarding allegations including the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation scandal, which was originally scheduled for tomorrow, and decided to refer the case to the full bench.
The Supreme Court announced today that the sentencing date for the case involving defendant Kim Keon-hee on charges including violations of the Capital Markets Act has been changed and designated for a later date in order to refer it to the full bench.
The ruling was initially set for 2 p.m. on July 24 under the deliberation of the Second Petty Bench, but the case was sent to the full bench just one day prior.
When a consensus cannot be reached within a petty bench or when it is deemed inappropriate for a petty bench to try the case, the matter is transferred from the petty bench consisting of four Supreme Court justices to the full bench.
Although the Supreme Court did not disclose the reason for the full bench referral, it is believed to have been influenced by conflicting lower court rulings regarding the Myung Tae-kyun public opinion poll suspicions involving Kim.
Kim was acquitted in both the first and second trials on charges related to receiving complimentary public opinion polls from Myung Tae-kyun.
However, former President Yoon, who was separately indicted on the same charges, was partially convicted in his first trial.
Additionally, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who was indicted on charges of receiving public opinion polls from Myung and having a supporter pay the costs on his behalf, was also found guilty in his first trial yesterday.
Unlike the first and second trials of Kim's case, the first-trial court in Mayor Oh's case partially recognized the credibility of Myung's statements.