Prosecution Appeals First Trial Verdict of Woori Bank Employee Embezzling 61.4 Billion Won... Requests Retrial and Remand

Prosecutors: "If the Appeal Proceeds Like This, Recovering an Additional 18.9 Billion Won Will Become Difficult"

Jeon Mo, an employee of Woori Bank, who was arrested and indicted on charges of embezzling 61.4 billion won of company funds.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The prosecution has appealed the first-instance court ruling that sentenced Woori Bank employee Jeon Mo (43) and his younger brother (41) to 13 years and 10 years in prison respectively for embezzling company funds worth around 60 billion won.

According to the legal community on the 7th, the Crime Proceeds Recovery Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lim Se-jin) submitted an appeal to the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 24 (Presiding Judge Jo Yong-rae), which handled the first trial of the Jeon brothers, the day before.

The prosecution is known to have appealed with the intention of requesting the annulment and remand of the first-instance ruling so that the trial of the Jeon brothers can be conducted anew from the beginning.

The Jeon brothers were indicted on charges of embezzling 61.4 billion won of company funds and were sentenced in the first trial to 13 years and 10 years imprisonment respectively, along with a confiscation order of approximately 64.7 billion won.

Earlier, during the first trial, the prosecution discovered an additional embezzlement amounting to 9.32 billion won and applied to amend the indictment, but the court did not permit the amendment, citing reasons that the methods of the crimes were different or unspecified.

The prosecution reportedly appealed to the court emphasizing that if the appeal trial proceeds as is, it would be difficult to recover 18.9 billion won that the Jeon brothers had diverted to 24 third parties.

According to the relevant provisions applied under the Act on the Forfeiture of Corrupt Property, once the defendant’s first-instance sentence is finalized, it becomes difficult to confiscate criminal proceeds received by third parties.

The prosecution found this reason for appeal after reviewing a 2020 case in which the Seoul High Court annulled and remanded a first trial for failing to properly confirm the defendants’ intention to request a jury trial.

If the court finds it difficult to remand the first-instance ruling, the prosecution is also known to have requested the court to recognize the additional 9.3 billion won embezzlement as part of the Jeon brothers’ charges.

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