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All appeals filed by prosecutors and defendants are dismissed.
Reasons
1. Summary of grounds for appeal;
A. The Defendants (1) paid party membership fees to the Defendants for violation of the Political Funds Act as a member of theIN Party. The Defendants’ act of paying the “party membership fees” in the position of party members constitutes “Methods of contributing political funds as provided by the Political Funds Act” and thus, there is no room to establish a violation of the Political Funds Act separately from the crime of violating the Political Funds Act. Therefore, this part of the facts charged constitutes “when the facts recorded in the indictment are true,” and accordingly, the prosecution should be dismissed pursuant to Article 328(1)4 of the Criminal Procedure Act.
(B) In light of the legal principles as to the amendment of the indictment, first of all, the facts charged that the Defendants paid party membership fees as members and the facts charged that the Defendants paid support payments may cause substantial disadvantages to the Defendants’ exercise of their defense rights, but the lower court’s finding of facts constituting a crime contrary to the facts charged, without changing the indictment, is unlawful.
Second, among the facts charged in the instant case, the violation of the State Public Officials Act that paid party membership fees and the violation of the Political Funds Act are deemed to be the crime of commission. However, the transfer through the fund management system of party membership fees does not constitute one of the Defendants’ act by unilaterally transmitting file files to the Financial Settlement Service without the involvement of the Defendants.
Nevertheless, it is illegal for the court below to recognize the criminal facts in the form of omission without changing the indictment.
Third, as long as the court below's decision that found the defendants guilty of transferring funds in the name of support payments ex officio without changing the indictment is unlawful, the defendants transferred money under the pretext of party membership fees.