Today’s winner is South Korean Judge Kim Mi-ri. He gets the award for the following.
SUWON, South Korea — The South Korean businessman accused of bribing two AAFES officials in connection with a lucrative Internet contract was sentenced Wednesday to pay a fine.
His company, SSRT, also was fined.
Jeong Gi-hwan must pay 10 million won (about $10,597) and SSRT, also known as Samsung Rental Corp. Ltd., was fined 20 million won (about $21,194).
Judge Kim Mi-ri imposed the sentence in Suwon District Court, saying a fine was sufficient penalty in part because Jeong’s bribery case has left him with scant prospect of gaining future business with the U.S. military.
Wednesday’s sentencing brings to a close a protracted bribery trial in which Jeong stood accused of paying tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to former Army and Air Force Exchange Service officials Clifton W. Choy and H. Lee Holloway.
South Korean authorities arrested Jeong in September 2006 in connection with SSRT’s contract to provide home Internet and phone service to customers on U.S. military installations on the peninsula.
They accused him of paying Choy $100,000 to help win the contract and of later paying Holloway $68,000 to shield the company from trouble with AAFES over rising customer complaints about alleged price gouging and poor service.
The verdict in this case is outrageous. American servicemen get ripped off, Jeong wins a 206 million dollar contract with the help of bribes, and all he is his conspirator get are fines worth a little over $30,000. Crime certainly pays in this courtroom, and that is why I name South Korean Judge Kim Mi-ri today’s Knucklehead of the Day.
Hat tip- ROK Drop
