South Korea legislator outside the hook in the case of cryptographic dissemination

The legislator of South Korea, Kim Nam-Guk, has been acquitted of charges related to the concealment of cryptography, since the Court ruled that it was not legally obliged to reveal virtual assets under the laws of the country at that time.

Judge Jeong Woo-Yong of the ninth criminal division of the South District Court of Seoul, issued the verdict on February 10, eliminating Kim from accusations that he clogged the public duty for deception, according to local media. report.

The ruling found that virtual assets were not classified as assets registered under the Ethics of the Public Service of South Korea, which means that Kim did not have the obligation to declare them in their asset reports.

The verdict comes as South Korea is accelerating Control against crimes related to crypto with the Ministry of Justice that moves to make your joint investigation unit for virtual assets (JIU) a permanent entity, expanding its authority and resources.

The former member of the Democratic Party was accused of transferring the cryptographic profits of the books, before South Korea enforced the travel rule of the Financial Action Task Group (FATF), which requires the dissemination of cryptography.

Prosecutors alleged that they intentionally misrepresented their total wealth to the Ethics Committee of the National Assembly, which raises concerns about possible conflicts of interest in financial legislation.

They sought a six -month prison sentence, arguing that Kim had reported that their total assets of $ 834,000 (1.2 billion earnings) in 2021, despite having almost $ 6.8 million (9.9 billion earnings) in Crypto.

Reportedly, he had transferred funds between his bank and cryptography accounts just before the deadline of the December 31 statement to coincide with the reports of the previous year, prosecutors said.

However, Judge Jeong dismissed the case of the Prosecutor’s Office, stating: “At that time, virtual assets were not registered assets in accordance with the Public Service Ethics Law.”

The Court added: “Even if the Ethics Committee of the National Assembly for public officials could not determine precisely the real active assets, it is not easy to see that its review authority was obstructed by deception.”

Even so, Judge Jeong did not fully acquit Kim, recognizing that his asset reports contained “inadequate or inaccurate” information.

Although he has denied any irregularity, the concern of the concern of whether his personal cryptography investments came into conflict with his legislative role, given their previous support to delay a 20% tax on cryptography gains.

Although Kim was acquitted in the first trial, prosecutors could appeal to a superior court, maintaining the case, and the debate on cryptography revelations of legislators, Alive.

The fiscal delay of cryptography adds to debate

The South Korean cryptographic tax has been postponed once again, marking the third delay since it was first introduced in 2020.

Last December, the National Assembly approved An amendment to the Income Tax Law, delaying taxes on virtual assets until 2027.

The plan was to impose a 20% tax on the annual cryptography income that exceeds $ 1,724 (2.5 million profits) from 2022, but repeated delays, driven by the rejection of investors and political divisions, political divisions, They have prevented politics from emerging.

The efforts to strengthen cryptographic regulations have also slowed down due to the short duration of South Korea Declaration of martial lawwhich became priority over financial and legislative reforms.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.