"Actually many years, only 4 months for this mistake."
A Montenegrin court has reportedly sentenced co-founder Terra Do Kwon and chief financial officer Han Chang-joon to four months in prison for passport forgery.
During a hearing on June 19, 2023, Montenegrin Court Judge Ivana Becic ruled that Kwon and Han used fake Costa Rican passports to board a flight to Dubai in March 2023.
In addition to explaining the reason why the sentence was lower, the Judge said that parties who are not satisfied with the decision can appeal within eight days after receiving the written decision.
On June 15, 2023, the High Court of Montenegro also approved Kwon and Han's bail application but at the request of South Korea, the court ordered extradition detention for up to six months.
However, Kwon and Han on 16 June 2023 insisted they had no idea the passports under the economic citizenship program were fake as they had traveled around the world with Costa Rican and Belgian passports.
Kwon also testified before the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) and defense lawyers that he had no financial transactions or meetings with former finance minister Milojko Spajic.
Despite that, the Montenegrin Court wants to extradite the two South Korean citizens to their country after the court wants to speed up the extradition proceedings.
