special counsel-Seoul mayor

SEOUL, Oct. 30 (Yonhap) -- A special counsel team said Friday it has appealed the acquittal of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon in a political funds case linked to the 2021 mayoral by-election.

Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team said it filed the appeal with the Seoul High Court earlier in the day, a week after the appellate court overturned a lower court ruling to acquit the mayor of violating the Political Funds Act.

Oh had been indicted on charges of having a political supporter make payments totaling 33 million won (US$24,700) for opinion polls he allegedly received on 10 occasions from self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun ahead of the 2021 election.

The lower court found him partially guilty of the charges and sentenced him to a 10 million-won fine, which, if finalized, would have stripped him of his mayoralty.

But the appellate court reversed the conviction, ruling that the only direct evidence for the allegations was Myung's testimony, which it said could not be fully trusted.

"Denying the credibility of Myung's testimony was unlawful, as it exceeded the bounds of the principle of free evaluation of evidence," the special counsel team said. "There are elements (of the ruling) that are highly inconsistent with common sense."

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