Yoon’s mother-in-law detained as appeals court upholds 1-year term for forging bank balance certificate

The mother-in-law of President Yoon Suk Yeol was detained Friday after an appeals court upheld a one-year prison sentence for forging a financial document used in a land purchase deal.

The appellate court in Uijeongbu, 22 kilometers northeast of Seoul, struck down an appeal by Choi Eun-soon who demanded the prison sentence handed down to her by a district court be reconsidered.

The appeals court confirmed the lower court’s ruling, finding the 76-year-old guilty of producing a fake bank balance certificate and using it to purchase a swath of land in Seongnam, south of Seoul, from April 2013 to October of that year. The forged document suggested she had deposited 34.7 billion won (US$27 million) into the account.

The court cited “the gravity of the crime” for arresting her, adding Choi’s right to defend herself had been fully guaranteed.

Choi vehemently claimed her innocence upon hearing the verdict and eventually passed out.

In December 2021, the district court in the same city sentenced her to one year in prison on charges of document forgery. She was not arrested then.

In a separate case, the Supreme Court on Dec.15 acquitted Choi of charges related to taking state health insurance benefits after illegally opening a care hospital.

She had been charged with illegally operating a long-term care hospital for the elderly without a medical license in February 2013 and unlawfully accepting 2.29 billion won in state benefits from the National Health Insurance Service until 2015, in collaboration with three business partners.

Initially, a district court had sentenced her to a three-year prison term in 2021. However, in January 2022, the Seoul High Court overturned the ruling, finding her not guilty of the charges.