Police Already Considering Another Arrest Warrant Application For HYBE’s Bang Si Hyuk Despite First Rejection 

South Korean police are considering reapplying for an arrest warrant for HYBE Chairman Bang Si Hyuk after prosecutors rejected their first attempt, demanding further investigation.

The original warrant application was sent back on April 24, stating there wasn’t sufficient justification to detain him at this stage.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Financial Crime Investigation Unit now plans to conduct a supplementary investigation into the charges against Chairman Bang under the Capital Markets Act — specifically, fraudulent unfair trading — before considering re-applying for a warrant.

Police only applied for the first warrant on April 21 — over a year and four months after launching the investigation, which had already drawn criticism for moving too slowly. Now it could take even longer.

If prosecutors keep sending the case back, police can escalate to a Warrant Review Committee. Grounds for requesting such a review include three or more demands for supplementary investigation regarding the same warrant, or the passage of five days from the date of the warrant application. However, it is understood that convening a Warrant Review Committee does not often lead to the actual issuance of a warrant.

This isn’t their first clash either. Police applied twice for search and seizure warrants against Chairman Bang in April and May of last year, but prosecutors rejected both applications, citing, among other reasons, an ongoing investigation by the Financial Supervisory Service’s (FSS) capital markets special judicial police. It was only on the third attempt that police obtained the warrant and proceeded with a search and seizure of HYBE’s headquarters.

Some have also raised the possibility that a recent request from the US Embassy in Seoul to lift Bang Si Hyuk’s travel ban may have influenced the timing of the warrant application.