Supreme Court Confirms 1-Year Prison Sentence for Former General Affairs Director Lee Moon-jong in Financial Supervisory Service Hiring Corruption Case

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The Supreme Court has upheld a one-year prison sentence for Lee Moon-jong, former Director General of the General Affairs Bureau at the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), who was indicted for involvement in fraudulent hiring of new employees at the FSS.

The Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Ahn Cheol-sang) announced on the 7th that it confirmed the lower court's ruling sentencing Lee to one year in prison on charges including abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights.

The court stated, "There is no error in the lower court's judgment regarding the legal principles of obstruction of business and abuse of authority, nor any omission in the judgment that affected the verdict."

Lee was indicted on charges of leading hiring corruption by increasing the number of planned hires in the field in which Mr. A, the son of an executive at the Export-Import Bank of Korea, applied, in order to ensure Mr. A passed the written exam during the FSS new recruitment in October 2015, at the request of the chairman of a financial holding company.

He was also accused of participating in interviews and eliminating three candidates through an unplanned reputation check, then passing candidates who were ranked lower.

The first trial sentenced Lee to one year in prison.

The second trial upheld the first trial's ruling, stating, "Lee only inquired about the hiring capacity and discussed additional recruitment after the document screening was completed and the written exam was conducted," and "It is recognized that Lee increased the planned number of hires to ensure Mr. A's success."

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