A Seoul court has rejected a request by the anti-corruption office seeking the pretrial detention of a senior official at the state audit agency over alleged bribery.

The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday turned down the request by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials(CIO) that was submitted on Tuesday for a Grade Three official of the Board of Audit and Inspection(BAI) identified by the surname Kim.

Responding to the request based on charges of bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, the court cited lack of sufficient evidence.

Kim is accused of founding a company under a false name and then receiving bribes surpassing one billion won, or around 766-thousand U.S. dollars, from builders, including some subject to state audits, in the form of winning orders.

The official was suspended for three months after it was found that they had traveled to Southeast Asia with a construction company representative during an internal audit by the BAI in September 2021.

Kim has been removed from his position.

With the latest court decision, all four requests by the CIO for a pretrial detention warrant since its launch in January 2021 have been rejected.