Chapter 88 - Courtroom Arc (4)

Sunye tapped her foot on the floor, impatiently waiting for any news from SD's side. She had merely ten minutes left and the information must be verified by 12 PM. If they extended the court date, then she was doomed. Hyun would clean all his accounts by the next date and he would be freed.

And Sunye could not afford to lose.

She clasped her hands together in a prayer. Please help me, she begged. Please!

Meanwhile in Country I, the tech team is working at lightning speed. They dug up all sorts of information related to their former President, finding any clue which might link him to Doctor Lim Byungsoo. One of the technicians finally made a breakthrough.

Armin was fidgeting in his office, nervously waiting for the results when the technician entered his room.

"Sir, I think I've found something!" he declared. He held up the documents and presented it to Armin, who studied them.

"This is…" he gasped. Immediately taking pictures of the documents, he sent them to SD's phone. Glancing at the clock, he let out a sigh of relief. They made it on time.

….

Hyun was feeling a lot more relaxed. Prime Minister Lee wanted him to be imprisoned but he was miles ahead. The Company might be threatened by him but they could not let him go to prison. He knew too much about them and in prison, he could sell off their secrets to the enemies. Many members of the Light had been imprisoned during the war and they served their sentences till that day. Hyun had the card up his sleeve and he was not going to waste it if the Company abandoned him.

Bae was glancing at the clock every now and then. There was only one minute left for the second session to start.

"We'll try to get another court date," Bae told Hyun. "And once we get another court date, we'll be able to prove that all the transactions were made by NGO's to your account for the sake of the development projects."

"They were," Hyun lied. "There is nothing to suggest that I killed this doctor nor that I bought drugs. The Prosecution is just barking mad!"

Bae winced at those words. He was not particularly keen on taking this man as a client but he had to fulfill his professional duties. The court had appointed him as the Defense Lawyer and it was his duty to defend the accused whether guilty or not.

Just then, Sunye calmly walked into the courtroom. She seemed very nervous. Her jaws were clenched with worry and she glanced at the clock, looking lost and defeated. Taking a deep breath, she simply tried to focus with whatever she had in hand.

Hyun smirked at her expression. The Prosecution knew that she was doomed and was going to be targeted by the Prime Minister's party for failing them. The media was going to crucify her and she would be known as the one who failed wherever she would go.

Judge Jeon entered the room and everyone stood up in respect. He sat down and said, "Let the session commence."

Bae stood up to present his argument.

"The Defense has already established that there were no drugs found on the ship on the night of the cruise," he stated. "Moreover, the transactions made to the Finance Minister's accounts were from NGO's which had worked for the development of our country. Lim Byungsoo had independently admitted to his crimes however, nowhere did he mention that the Finance Minister was involved in any of his crimes. Furthermore, there were no signs of anyone killing him nor were there any video evidence of anything such other than the word of a dubious hitman who has no credibility in his statements."

"Objection your honor!" Sunye stood up. "There was money sent to that hitman from one of the offshore accounts linked to these so-called development projects! There is an established link so the Defense cannot deny that the defendant did not know this hitman."

"Those offshore accounts paid many people which unfortunately included the Finance Minister," Bae argued. "That does not mean there is a link between my client and the hitman!"

"Overruled," Jeon declared. "The Prosecution needs to back this claim with evidence."

Sunye took her seat, not looking at Hyun who was openly smiling. She fidgted her fingers, seemingly scared and docile at that point. 

"That is all, your honor," Bae said before taking his seat. Sunye stood up.

"The Prosecution would like to question the defendant," she said. 

"The defendant is summoned to the stand," Judge ordered. Hyun stood up and took his spot at the witness stand. Sunye walked towards him and began.

"Mr. Hyun, can you elaborate on your relationship with the victim?" she asked.

"Byungsoo was a special friend of mine," Hyun stated. "And yes, we were hiding our affair not simply because I was married but also due to the fact that the Prime Minister's conservative government might have frowned on our relationship."

"Did you know that your lover was poisoning his patients and taking their money?" 

"No," Hyun insisted. "I had no idea! Those tapes might have been doctored."

"Our experts at the IT team have verified they were not doctored," Sunye stated. "Did you or did you not tell your lover to steal money from wealthy patients?"

"Objection, Your Honor!" Bae protested. "The Prosecution is accusing my client of a crime committed by the victim!"

"But the defendant has clearly instructed his lover to siphon money from wealthy patients!" Sunye retaliated. "It was shown in the video. The transcript is already with you, Your honor."

"Overruled," Jeon said. "The Defense needs to re-read the transcript and also watch the video."

Bae sat down, fuming a little. Sunye returned to the questioning.

"Your lover used those money and sent them to various offshore accounts," she went on. "True that those turned out to be NGO's but those same NGO's were also funding your development projects. May I ask which projects were these?"

"The Sailors' Reef Bridge," Hyun said clearly. "The government's new project at Sailor's Reef where they want to connect several key trade routes."

"But according to the news in the media, you were not giving money for it," Sunye said. She took out a newspaper and handed it to the plaintiff who in turn gave it to the judge. The headlines stated that the Finance Minister was opposing the bridge project.

"The place is not safe," Hyun argued. "There are too many gangs operating in that area. Moreover, the Yakuza were eyeing that place for a long time. If we make a bridge there then they might attack the traders there!"

"Or maybe, with the development of that project, many of the gangs will lose their usual trade routes to a legal and more secure route which will need complete transparency of the trades?" Sunye suggested.

"I can't tell," Hyun stated. "I was fired before I could make a decision on it."

"So in short, the money from those NGO's never reached the development projects," Sunye concluded. "Then where did the money go?"

"To the government funds of course!" Hyun said hotly. But Sunye smirked.

"No, Mr. Hyun," she said. "The money did not go to the funds. In fact, the money was used for drugs."

"Objection!" Bae spoke up. "The Prosecution has no proof that the money was used to buy drugs!"

"But we do, sir," Sunye said. "There is one transaction which has been unaccounted for."

Sunye strode over to her desk and took out a record which she handed to the plaintiff. Jeon took it from the plaintiff and examined it.

"This piece of evidence was duly submitted to the court but the Defense forgot about it," she said calmly. "It states that Byungsoo sent money via an offshore account in Country S which then sent it to the Finance Minister. The Finance Minister, on the other hand, sent this money to two places. One was traced to the anonymous account of the hitman whom the former Minister claimed not to know. But the other one, went to the deceased President of Country I, Rihan."

Hyun clenched his fists in anger. Sunye's nervous facade had dropped and she was now more confident than ever. SD had delivered the verified information right on time and using that, she linked the existing documents with Hyun. The fact that the Defense did not refute this clue raised several red flags in her mind.

How did they miss out on that evidence?

"President Rihan was a cautious man," Sunye went on. "He kept a transparent record of all his transactions. The money he received was for the drugs his country supplied to Country K. He made sure that the transactions were detailed and once he got the money, he sent the drugs to the Finance Minister via a cargo ship. And that cargo ship was docked at the same port as our defendant's cruise ship as written on Rihan's documents."

Jeon read the papers very carefully while the Defense lawyer also scanned the copies of that transaction. Hyun did not give him anything to refute this!

"This is all a lie!" Hyun protested. "Just because two ships were docked in the same port doesn't mean that we were trading drugs!"

"It's your word against the records, Minister," Sunye stated. "Your lover sent the money to you via an NGO which you then sent to Country I and got your hands on the drugs. It was a long and complex process to thwart the authorities but President Rihan's attention to detail is your downfall."

"You had your lover killed because he knew too much," she went on. "The fact that you made the victim kill his patients, paid a hitman to make the victim's death look like a suicide and you had possession of the drugs that night but were betrayed by your companions who stole the drugs and escaped."

Sunye turned to the judge. "That is all, Your Honor," she said.