Court Denies Lone Star Warrant Appeal

The court has turned down an appeal by the prosecution made in defiance of the court, which had previously rejected three arrest warrant requests for Yoo Hoi-won, the representative of Lone Star Advisors Korea, who is charged with manipulating stock prices.

Seoul District Court said on November 22, “Rejecting the appeal for the arrest warrant is a “judicial order” and it is not a “decision of court,” which can be subject to appeal under criminal procedure, and therefore the rejection cannot be appealed.”

The court said, “Currently, the law does not allow appeals on the basis of dissatisfaction, and that can be interpreted as a loophole in the lawmaking process. However, as for the rejection of warrant, there is a way to correct the illegality of the original judgment by appealing the warrant once again, therefore, even though there is no process for appeal of dissatisfaction, it is not unconstitutional.”

The Supreme Public Prosecutor`s Office, which made the appeal, said, “After fully analyzing the reason behind the rejection, we will make up the weak point in the document and make an appeal once again on November 24.”

However, since the Supreme Court has already issued a legal case, saying, “Arrest warrants are not subject to appeals or re-appeals.” in September1997, now it remains to be seen whether the court will change its position expressed in the exiting case, when the prosecution makes a re-appeal.

The prosecution is considering filing a constitutional complaint to the Constitutional Court if the Supreme Court once again turns down its appeal.

Meanwhile, on November 22 the prosecution returned after investigating Jeong Moon-soo, the former advisor to the President for economic policy and former chairman of the board of Korea Exchange Bank when Loan Star purchased the bank in 2003.

The prosecution will ask for the issuance of arrest warrant for Byeon Yang-ho, former financial policy director of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, by adding more charges against him this week.

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