A local court has again refused to issue a pretrial detention warrant for Qoo10 CEO Ku Young-bae, who is under fire for massive payment delays by Qoo10 e-commerce subsidiaries TMON and WeMakePrice. 

On Tuesday the Seoul Central District Court turned down the prosecution’s request for a warrant to detain Ku, who faces charges of fraud, embezzlement and breach of trust. 

Explaining its decision, the court said there was “room for dispute” over whether the alleged actions constituted crimes and little risk that Ku would flee or destroy evidence. 

Pretrial detention warrants for TMON CEO Ryu Kwang-jin and WeMakePrice CEO Ryu Hwa-hyun were denied on similar grounds. 

The court denied the prosecution’s first request for a pretrial detention warrant for Ku on October 10, citing the need to protect his rights and saying there was room to dispute the allegations.