Case concerning whether wages received by an employee who is an accomplice through acts of arranging sexual traffic may be subject to collection of equivalent value under the Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment


【Holding】

Where the principal offender who committed acts of arranging sexual traffic, etc. paid wages to an employee who is an accomplice, but the payment was not made as part of a distribution of criminal proceeds and was merely made as part of the expenses incurred to obtain criminal proceeds, whether collection of equivalent value from the employee who is an accomplice under the latter part of Article 25 of the Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic is permitted (negative) / Where an employee who is an accomplice committed acts of arranging sexual traffic, etc. (excluding the act of providing funds, land, or buildings while knowing that they are to be used for sexual traffic) and received wages, etc. as remuneration for such criminal conduct, so that there are profits that have substantively accrued to the employee, whether the profits such as wages may be collected from the employee who is an accomplice under Article 10(1) and Article 8(1), subparagraph 1 of the former Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment (affirmative)

【Summary of Decision】

Money, goods, or other property obtained through a crime in violation of Article 19(2), subparagraph 1 of the Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic (hereinafter the "Sexual Traffic Punishment Act") is subject to collection of equivalent value under the latter part of Article 25 of the Sexual Traffic Punishment Act. Since the purpose of such collection lies in depriving the offender of unlawful gains so that the offender may not retain them, where several persons jointly committed acts of arranging sexual traffic, etc. and obtained profits, the profits that have substantively accrued to each of them must be collected individually. Meanwhile, expenses incurred by an offender in order to obtain criminal proceeds, even if paid out of the criminal proceeds, are merely a way of consuming the criminal proceeds and thus are not to be deducted from the criminal proceeds to be collected. Therefore, where the principal offender who committed acts of arranging sexual traffic, etc. paid wages to an employee who is an accomplice, if the principal offender did not pay them as part of a distribution of criminal proceeds but merely paid wages to the employee who is an accomplice as part of the expenses incurred to obtain criminal proceeds, collection of equivalent value from the employee who is an accomplice under the foregoing provision is not permitted.

However, Article 2, subparagraph 1 [Attached Table] item 13 of the former Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment (prior to amendment by Act No. 18672 of January 4, 2022; hereinafter the "former Criminal Proceeds Concealment Regulation Act") designates the crime under Article 19(2) of the Sexual Traffic Punishment Act (excluding, among acts of arranging sexual traffic, etc., the act of providing funds, land, or buildings while knowing that they are to be used for sexual traffic) as a "serious crime," and Article 2, subparagraph 2 (a) of the former Criminal Proceeds Concealment Regulation Act defines as "criminal proceeds" not only property generated by criminal conduct constituting a serious crime but also "property obtained as remuneration for such criminal conduct," and such "criminal proceeds" are subject to collection of equivalent value under Article 10(1) and Article 8(1), subparagraph 1 of the former Criminal Proceeds Concealment Regulation Act. Therefore, where an employee who is an accomplice committed acts of arranging sexual traffic, etc. (excluding the act of providing funds, land, or buildings while knowing that they are to be used for sexual traffic) and received wages, etc. as remuneration for such criminal conduct, so that there are profits that have substantively accrued to the employee, then even though collection of equivalent value under the latter part of Article 25 of the Sexual Traffic Punishment Act is not permitted with respect thereto, the profits such as wages may be collected from the employee who is an accomplice under Article 10(1) and Article 8(1), subparagraph 1 of the former Criminal Proceeds Concealment Regulation Act.

【Referenced Statutes】

Article 19(2), subparagraph 1 and Article 25 of the Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic; Article 2, subparagraph 1 [Attached Table] item 13, Article 2, subparagraph 2 (a), Article 8(1), subparagraph 1, and Article 10(1) of the former Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment (prior to amendment by Act No. 18672 of January 4, 2022)

【Referenced Precedents】

Supreme Court Decision 2018Do6163, July 11, 2018