Seoul:A special counsel team has announced an appeal against the acquittal of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon in a political funds case related to the 2021 mayoral by-election.
According to Yonhap News Agency, special counsel Min Joong-ki's team filed the appeal with the Seoul High Court, following the appellate court's decision to overturn a lower court's ruling that found Mayor Oh guilty of violating the Political Funds Act.
Mayor Oh was initially indicted on charges of having a political supporter pay 33 million won (US$24,700) for opinion polls allegedly received on ten occasions from Myung Tae-kyun, a self-proclaimed power broker, ahead of the 2021 election. The lower court had partially found him guilty and imposed a 10 million-won fine, which could have resulted in his removal from office if upheld.
However, the appellate court reversed this conviction, stating that the only direct evidence was the testimony of Myung, which it deemed unreliable. The special counsel team criticized this decision, arguing that dismissing Myung's credibility was unlawful and inconsistent with the principles of evidence evaluation, describing elements of the ruling as "highly inconsistent with common sense."