1. Overview of the case
A company ("Company A") and 37 executives and employees thereof were booked as suspects and investigated by the prosecution for violating the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act on charges of encouraging 583 union members belonging to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions to withdraw their membership and giving them personnel disadvantages for the reason that they belonged to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.
After we successfully advised the dismissal of the arrest warrant for the executive director and managing director of Company A, Company A requested us to give additional advice and defense services for all of its executives and employees, including the representative director, against the prosecution’s request for issuance of arrest warrants filed with the court.
2. Our role and argument
We formed a team led by the head of the Financial and Economic Crime Response Team who was a former prosecutor well versed in corporate crime. We advised Company A on how to expeditiously complete the investigation process while minimizing damage to the company, including the direction of the prosecution’s investigation, major decision-making methods, and methods of receiving the investigation.
In addition, we argued several times to the prosecution's investigators that in order for the company to be able to conduct normal business activities, only those with serious responsibility should be prosecuted, the scope of trial should be minimized and the current representative director should not be booked as he is unrelated to the charged criminal facts, since the complaint was canceled, the statutory penalty is less than 2 years, it is a crime not punished in other countries, and all involved people have admitted to the alleged crime,.
As for the executive director and the managing director, whose warrants were dismissed, we pleaded for them that the prosecution should respect the court’s judgment and hold a trial against them without detention since they admitted to all their alleged crimes, were faithfully participating in the investigation, and there were no special changes in circumstances.
3. Our advice and the result of our defense
Based on our advice and defense, the trial of Company A's executive director and managing director was held without detention and a request for issuance of warrants against them was not made. Among the executives and employees who were booked as suspects or summoned by the prosecution, 27 people, including the current representative director, received suspended indictment or were not booked.
Retaining us who have outstanding capabilities in the labor and criminal matters, Company A was able to avoid the risk of having numerous executives and employees going to trial, and thus minimize disruption to corporate activities.
□ Attorneys in charge: Cho Jae-bin, Lee Chang-min, Jeong Eun-ha and Kang Min-jae
