NongHyup Bank Employee Who Created Homeless Mother's Account to Receive 3%p More Interest

Embezzlement of 2.37 Million Won from Cousin and Others
Dismissal Disciplinary Action Lawsuit Ruled Unfavorable

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] A former NH Nonghyup Bank employee who was dismissed after being caught exploiting high interest rates to create preferential accounts for homeless people under the names of relatives and acquaintances to embezzle interest has lost a civil lawsuit filed against the bank.

According to the legal community on the 30th, the Civil Division 42 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Eunhyuk Ma) ruled against former NH Nonghyup Bank employee Mr. A in a lawsuit seeking confirmation of invalidity of disciplinary dismissal filed against Nonghyup Bank. The court stated, "It is difficult to conclude that the bank's disciplinary action was unfair, lost social common sense validity, or that the discretion was exceeded or abused."

Mr. A, who belonged to the Jeonbuk Regional Headquarters of Nonghyup Bank and worked at the B County Office branch from April 2011 to November 2014, was caught embezzling 2.37 million KRW of undue interest by creating preferential accounts for homeless people under the names of his mother, cousin, and friends, which paid an additional 3 percentage points above the normal interest rate. The bank judged that Mr. A caused financial loss by abusing his employee status and filed a complaint for breach of trust in the course of duty. Separately, a disciplinary committee was held, and in September 2019, Mr. A was subjected to the highest-level disciplinary dismissal. The reasons for Mr. A's dismissal included, besides breach of trust, ▲ improper registration of disabilities to evade interest ▲ improper loans under others' names ▲ improper issuance of credit cards under acquaintances' names. Regarding the reported breach of trust, Mr. A was also granted a non-prosecution disposition by the prosecution. Mr. A filed for reconsideration against the bank's disciplinary action but ultimately, after dismissal, filed a lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, he argued, "There was a procedural defect because the reconsideration process did not allow the presence of a lawyer, and some of my misconduct had already passed the disciplinary statute of limitations (5 years), so the dismissal was an abuse of disciplinary discretion and illegal." However, the court dismissed the claim based on the fact that the internal regulations of Nonghyup Bank do not guarantee the right to legal counsel during disciplinary procedures. Regarding the statute of limitations, the court judged that the limitation period had not expired based on the end date of the misconduct, not the occurrence date.

Through the ruling, the court strongly criticized Mr. A. It is rare for a court to reprimand a party's conduct in a civil trial rather than a criminal trial. The court pointed out, "Mr. A was an employee of a corporation established to promote the economic status of farmers and cooperatives, and was subject to a high level of integrity obligation, yet he neglected this duty," adding, "Mr. A's actions cannot be justified, and the misconduct is highly blameworthy."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.