Supreme Court upholds 5-year sentence for shaman in Kim Keon Hee bribery case

Jeon Seong-bae, a shaman known as Geon Jin, had a five-year prison sentence upheld by the Supreme Court for colluding with former first lady Kim Keon Hee to receive money and gifts from the Unification Church.

"There was no error in the lower court's application of the law regarding trial procedure, the modification of the indictment, the definition of 'solicitation' under the crime of brokering bribes, criminal intent or joint principal offenses," the court said in its ruling on Thursday.

Jeon is a member of the Ilgwang Jogye Order, an offshoot of Korea’s largest sect of Buddhism, the Jogye Order. He rose to national attention as part of a wide-ranging influence-peddling scandal involving former President Yoon Suk Yeol's wife. Prosecutors and, later, a special counsel team accused Jeon of using his personal ties to Kim to broker favors for businesses and individuals seeking access to the presidential office, including the Unification Church, in exchange for money and luxury gifts.

He was indicted on charges of brokering bribes for receiving about 82.93 million won ($55,000) worth of gifts, including a Graff necklace and Chanel bags, from the Unification Church in 2022, together with Kim. During the same period, he is also accused of receiving 30 million won from the church in the form of an advisory fee, 45 million won from Heerim Architects & Planners in exchange for quashing a tax investigation and criminal complaint and 167 million won from the startup Conlab Company.

At trial, the court sentenced Jeon to six years in prison and ordered the forfeiture of 180 million won.

"The defendant built relationships with high-ranking officials, including Yoon Suk Yeol and Kim Keon Hee, and used those relationships to broker deals and receive money," the trial court said. "In particular, when the Unification Church's request was relayed to Yoon through Kim, it resulted in collusion between religion and politics."

The leaders of the Unification Church had personally sought Jeon's help to resolve pending church issues, delivering the Chanel bags and Graff necklace to Kim through Jeon. Prosecutors and the courts found that Jeon then conveyed the church's requests to Yoon through Kim. It was essentially a two-way relationship in which Yoon used the church for political purposes while the church used the government to advance its own interests.

The appellate court reduced the sentence to five years. While upholding the guilty verdict on the main charges, the appellate court cited mitigating factors including Jeon's partial confession during the trial and his submission to the court of items he had previously claimed were lost, including a Chanel bag and a necklace. However, the appellate court found that Jeon's submission of this evidence constituted grounds for a reduced sentence. Article 24 of the special counsel law on Kim Keon Hee, a special bill to investigate allegations of misconduct against the former first lady,  stipulates that sentences must be reduced if a defendant submits materials during trial proceedings that help establish the facts of a crime.

The Supreme Court ruling also upheld Jeon's acquittal on the charge of violating the Political Funds Act. Jeon had been indicted for allegedly receiving 100 million won in illegal political funds from Park Chang-wook, a North Gyeongsang provincial council member, in exchange for a request to help him secure a main conservative People Power Party (PPP) nomination. The lower courts had ruled that he did not qualify as a "person engaged in political activity" subject to punishment under the Political Funds Act.

Jeon is also standing trial separately over allegations that the Unification Church interfered in the PPP national convention. That case, which involves Jeon, Kim, Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja and former World Headquarters chief Yun Young-ho on charges of violating the Political Parties Act, is being heard at the Seoul Central District Court.

The shaman was also indicted separately on charges of violating the Political Funds Act for allegedly receiving 100 million won in illegal political funds from a PPP primary candidate for Yeongcheon mayor. Last month, the Seoul Southern District Court acquitted him in the first trial, ruling that he did not qualify as "a person engaged in political activity."

BY CHOI SEO-IN [[email protected]]