A member of the South Korean national legislature could possibly face imprisonment for allegedly misdeclaring his cryptocurrency holdings.
State prosecutors recommended that the legislator be sentenced to a six-month jail time for not disclosing a significant portion of his crypto assets, and failing to adhere to the South Korean policy on transparency and accountability of public servants.
Prison Sentence
A state penitentiary might be awaiting Kim Nam-kook, a member of the South Korean National Assembly, for non-disclosure of all his cryptocurrency holdings, violating the country’s code of ethics for public officials.
State prosecutors accused Kim of deliberately failing to report his cryptocurrency holdings, alleging that he intentionally concealed owning a substantial amount of digital assets.
During a legal proceeding, the prosecution team asked Judge Jeong Woo-yong of the 9th Criminal Division of the Seoul Southern District Court to sentence the former Democratic Party legislator to six months of imprisonment.
Source: Bloomberg images
According to the South Korean prosecutors, Kim erroneously declared his crypto assets, suggesting that the lawmaker should be charged with obstruction of official duties.
The public prosecutors claimed that “the defendant intended not to declare the coins he owned.”
“He obstructed the National Assembly Ethics Committee’s review of the National Assembly member’s assets in a false manner,” the prosecution team added.
A South Korean congressman was sentenced to six months in prison by prosecutors for concealing his cryptocurrency holdings. He concealed cryptocurrency assets equivalent to 9.9 billion won (6.8M USD) and 990 million won (680K USD) in 2021 and 2022, violating the obligation of…
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) December 18, 2024
Over $6M Crypto Assets
Kim claimed that he only owned $834,356 worth of assets in an official declaration to the National Assembly in 2021.
Investigations revealed that the lawmaker concealed on two occasions his cryptocurrency assets.
In 2021, Kim did not report that he owned $6.8 million worth of crypto assets. The lawmaker also failed to declare his digital assets worth $680,000 in 2022.
As of today, the market cap of cryptocurrencies stood at $3.47 trillion. Chart: TradingView
“He concealed cryptocurrency assets equivalent to 9.9 billion won (6.8M USD) and 990 million won (680K USD) in 2021 and 2022, violating the obligation of public officials to declare property holdings,” Wu Blockchain said in a post.
State prosecutors said that the legislator moved funds to a bank account so he could conceal the source of his profits, misreporting his true assets. They also found out that only the conversion of the remaining crypto to assets is being declared as his total worth.
Lack Of Crypto Tax Policy
Some analysts blame the South Korean government’s inability to implement a much-needed cryptocurrency taxation law.
The new tax law covering crypto assets was supposed to be implemented next year but the government decided to delay the tax policy until 2027.
Under the long-awaited crypto tax law, the government will impose a 20% tax on cryptocurrency gains.
Analysts said that ambiguity surrounding the regulations for cryptocurrencies might be increasing the political tension in the country.
Opposition lawmakers from the Democratic party perceive that the delay in the crypto tax implementation is being used by the government as a political tool.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView
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