Court Detains Younger Brother Following Woori Bank Employee Accused of Embezzling 61.4 Billion Won

B, the younger brother of Woori Bank employee A, who was arrested on charges of embezzling 61.4 billion won of company funds, is entering the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 1st to undergo a pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant hearing). [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Following employee A, who is accused of embezzling 61.4 billion won of company funds from Woori Bank in three instances, his younger brother B was arrested on the 1st.

At 5:33 PM that day, Judge Heo Jeongin of the Seoul Central District Court issued an arrest warrant for B on charges of embezzlement under the Specific Economic Crimes Act, citing "risk of evidence destruction and flight."

At around 1:30 PM that day, B appeared for the pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant hearing) and responded "No" to reporters' questions such as "Did you plan the crime with your brother from the beginning?" and "Did you use the money for the golf course business?" He also said "I did not know" when asked "Did you know the source of the funds?"

Earlier, his older brother A was urgently arrested by the police on the 28th of last month on suspicion of embezzling approximately 61.4 billion won of company funds in three instances from 2012 to 2018, and was detained two days later. On the 30th of last month, Chief Judge Yang Hwansung of the Seoul Central District Court issued an arrest warrant for A on charges of embezzlement under the Specific Economic Crimes Act, citing "risk of evidence destruction and flight."

A, who worked at Woori Bank for over 10 years, was at the deputy general manager level and was in the Corporate Improvement Department at the time of the embezzlement. Most of the embezzled funds were identified as contract deposits that Woori Bank had to return to Entekhab, an Iranian home appliance company that participated in the sale of the former Daewoo Electronics.

During the investigation of the fund flow through A's accounts, the police also found clues that some of the embezzled money flowed into the business funds of his younger brother B, who was arrested on the same charges. B is known to have suffered losses of about 8 billion won while promoting a golf resort development project in New Zealand. It is estimated that A spent about 50 billion won and B about 10 billion won from the embezzled amount. The police also applied for an arrest warrant for B the day before.

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