A “nullity certificate” issued by the Financial Supervisory Service was used for the first time in a criminal trial as evidence supporting a victim’s innocence. The Daegu District Court acquitted a borrower of fraud who had been reported by an illegal private lender.
According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said on the 26th that Criminal Division 11 of the Daegu District Court acquitted a defendant identified as A of fraud on the 29th of last month, using the FSS nullity certificate as a basis for its judgment. It is the first time such a certificate has been accepted as evidence in a criminal rather than civil case. The certificate confirms that both principal and interest of an illegal loan contract above 60 percent annual interest are void.
광고 문의 · 300×250What happened
The report says A needed money and tried to borrow 1.55 million won from an illegal private lender. The lender had A post a gift-certificate sale notice in an online cafe, sent money as payment for the certificates, and ten days later demanded 28.5 percent interest. Annualized, that is 941.7 percent, about 47 times the legal ceiling of 20 percent. The transferred amount appears as both 1.95 million and 1.55 million won in the article, so the exact figure needs confirmation.
When A could not repay, the lender reported A for fraud, claiming A took payment for certificates and never sent them. The court, however, found that the money did not change hands through a mistake caused by A’s deception but because the lender sent it to collect high interest. The nullity certificate lay behind that judgment.
Background of the system
After the Money Lending Business Act was amended in July 2025, contracts above 60 percent annual interest are treated as anti-social loan contracts, and not only interest but also principal is void. Before the change, principal had to be repaid even when the legal ceiling was exceeded. The FSS began issuing nullity certificates in March this year and has issued 573 so far.
There was already a civil precedent. On August 10 this year, a victim of a gift-certificate pre-sale scheme attached the certificate to a claim for return of unjust enrichment against an illegal lender, and the court accepted it. The new ruling is seen as giving victims of illegal private lending a means of defense when they are criminally reported as well.