A Seoul court on Wednesday denied an arrest warrant for a former senior prosecutor accused of unfairly disadvantaging his junior colleague for raising sexual misconduct allegations against him.

The Seoul Central District Court dismissed the prosecution's request to arrest Ahn Tae-geun, a former prosecuting attorney, who is accused of abusing his power to punish a junior prosecutor for having raised sexual allegations against him in the past.

"There are areas of contention of whether a crime has been committed," the court ruled in its dismissal of the warrant. "We do not recognize the need to detain the suspect as of the current state of the investigation," the court said.

 

Ahn is suspected of having used his influence to have Seo Ji-hyeon, a district attorney, transferred to a position outside of Seoul after she raised sexual allegations against him. Prosecutors filed for the writ on Monday.

Seo claimed he groped her during a funeral dinner in October

2010 and she was moved to the Tongyoung branch of the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office five years later when she sought to formally raise the issue with the prosecution's internal inspection office.

Prosecutors are seeking to charge Ahn with abuse of authority, since the statute of limitations has expired for the sexual misconduct allegations.

The allegations came to public attention in January after Seo made the revelation in a television news interview, which triggered the so-called "Me Too" movement in South Korea, sparking a raft of revelations from alleged female victims in the culture, arts, education and religious sectors.

The prosecution launched a special probe team to look into sexual misconduct allegations within legal circles, primarily Ahn's case, following Seo's revelation. Last week, a prosecution committee tasked with reviewing Ahn's case recommended Ahn be indicted.

Ahn, who held his last position as chief of criminal affairs at the Ministry of Justice, was fired in June last year for offering cash to junior prosecutors over a private dinner. Regarding the sexual misconduct allegations, he has said he does not remember the incident and strongly denied he pulled strings to have Seo moved to her current post. (Yonhap)