ID :
194749
Wed, 07/13/2011 - 10:51
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/194749
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Appellate court lengthens prison sentence for fake state seal maker
SEOUL, July 13 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul appellate court on Wednesday sentenced a fraudulent seal maker to three years in prison for defrauding the government in a project to make the nation's fourth state seal and trying to sell a fake diamond seal.
Min Hong-gyu, 56, was arrested and indicted last September on charges of pocketing 190 million won (US$178,908) from a 2007 contract he won from the government to make the country's new state seal by lying that he was able to make it with differentiated traditional techniques.
The Seoul Central District Court in January sentenced Min to two years and six months in prison for deceiving the government, while acquitting him of attempting to sell the fake diamond seal at a department store.
"Circumstantial evidences and some features of the disputed state seal led us to decide that he employed a modern method, not traditional skills, in producing the seal," said Lee Jae-young, the presiding judge of the appellate division of the Seoul court.
"Though the fake diamond seal had not been sold, his intention to sell it through deceptive advising is to be blamed as it dents trust between sellers and buyers," Lee added as he explained the reason for stronger punishments.
Prosecutors and Min were not immediately reached for comment on whether they will bring the case to the Supreme Court.
The state seal scandal has jolted the nation for months after a police probe last year revealed that the craftsman had embezzled gold from the state seal project and did not have traditional skills as he had claimed while producing the state seal.
Min's seal was the country's fourth since the establishment of the South Korean government in 1948 and had been in use since 2008, but it was discarded after the scandal broke out. The government has been using the previous edition since then and is in the process of producing a new one.
The state seal is used by the president on official documents and national certificates, for proclaiming Constitutional amendments and ratifying international agreements.
graceoh@yna.co.kr
(END)
Min Hong-gyu, 56, was arrested and indicted last September on charges of pocketing 190 million won (US$178,908) from a 2007 contract he won from the government to make the country's new state seal by lying that he was able to make it with differentiated traditional techniques.
The Seoul Central District Court in January sentenced Min to two years and six months in prison for deceiving the government, while acquitting him of attempting to sell the fake diamond seal at a department store.
"Circumstantial evidences and some features of the disputed state seal led us to decide that he employed a modern method, not traditional skills, in producing the seal," said Lee Jae-young, the presiding judge of the appellate division of the Seoul court.
"Though the fake diamond seal had not been sold, his intention to sell it through deceptive advising is to be blamed as it dents trust between sellers and buyers," Lee added as he explained the reason for stronger punishments.
Prosecutors and Min were not immediately reached for comment on whether they will bring the case to the Supreme Court.
The state seal scandal has jolted the nation for months after a police probe last year revealed that the craftsman had embezzled gold from the state seal project and did not have traditional skills as he had claimed while producing the state seal.
Min's seal was the country's fourth since the establishment of the South Korean government in 1948 and had been in use since 2008, but it was discarded after the scandal broke out. The government has been using the previous edition since then and is in the process of producing a new one.
The state seal is used by the president on official documents and national certificates, for proclaiming Constitutional amendments and ratifying international agreements.
graceoh@yna.co.kr
(END)
