Kim Tae-o, Chairman of DGB Financial, Acquitted in First Trial for 'Bribery of Foreign Public Official'

Suspicion of Bribery to Local Officials for Cambodia Commercial Bank Licensing Purpose

Kim Tae-oh, chairman of DGB Financial Group, who was prosecuted on charges of attempting to bribe local officials in Cambodia to obtain a commercial bank license, was acquitted in the first trial.

On the 10th, the Criminal Division 11 of Daegu District Court acquitted Chairman Kim, who was indicted for violating the Act on the Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. Those also indicted, including Mr. A, then head of the Global Headquarters at Daegu Bank, Mr. B, head of the Global Business Department, and Mr. C, vice president of DGB Special Bank, the local subsidiary in Cambodia, were also acquitted.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Chairman Kim and others were charged with handing over $3.5 million (approximately 4.1 billion KRW) to local brokers as lobbying funds to Cambodian financial authorities from April to October 2020 to obtain a commercial bank license for Daegu Bank’s Cambodian local subsidiary, DGB Special Bank. They were also accused of inflating the purchase price of local real estate that the special bank intended to buy to raise lobbying funds.

At the sentencing hearing in December last year, the prosecution requested prison sentences of 4 years for Chairman Kim, 3 years and 6 months for Mr. A, 3 years for Mr. B, and 2 years for Mr. C. They also sought fines totaling 8.2 billion KRW for them.

Chairman Kim’s legal team stated in a press release, “We respect and welcome the court’s accurate and wise judgment.” They added, “Chairman Kim is committed to management based on integrity and ethics, prioritizing customer value at DGB, and will take this opportunity to thoroughly review whether there are any shortcomings in internal control management.”

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