30s Suhyup Employee Sentenced to Prison for Embezzling 800 Million Won in Subsidies Over 4 Years for Gambling...

Jeju District Court Sentences 2 Years and 6 Months Imprisonment
Accomplice to Embezzlement Sentenced to 1 Year Imprisonment and 2 Years Probation

A former employee of a certain fisheries cooperative in Jeju, who embezzled 860 million KRW in subsidies over four years and used it for gambling, has been sentenced to prison.

According to Yonhap News Agency, on the 17th, the Jeju District Court Criminal Division 2 (Presiding Judge Hong Eun-pyo) sentenced Mr. A, a man in his 30s who was arrested and indicted on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (embezzlement), to 2 years and 6 months in prison. Additionally, Mr. B, who was tried together for aiding Mr. A’s embezzlement, received a 1-year prison sentence with a 2-year probation.

Jeju District Court Exterior

Mr. A was prosecuted on charges of embezzling 670 million KRW from subsidy project funds 55 times from July 2020 to January this year while working at a fisheries cooperative in Jeju. He is also accused of stealing a bankbook from another employee managing subsidy accounts and embezzling about 130 million KRW, totaling 860 million KRW in embezzlement.

It was investigated that Mr. A created fake receipts to make it appear as if the subsidies were actually used and submitted them to the subsidy project officials at Jeju City Hall, the supervisory agency, to conceal the embezzlement. To prevent detection, he replenished the subsidy account at the end of each year and withdrew the money again in January of the following year, continuing the crime. Most of the embezzled money was used for gambling, including repaying private loans incurred from online gambling.

The court pointed out, "The defendant embezzled subsidies for other purposes and committed additional crimes such as forging receipts and shredding bankbooks during the process." Regarding the sentencing, the court explained, "However, considering that a significant portion of the embezzled amount was repaid, leaving about 120 million KRW in remaining damages, and that the defendant voluntarily confessed to the crime leading to the investigation."

Mr. B is accused of aiding the embezzlement by lending his bank account to Mr. A. The court stated the sentencing rationale for Mr. B, saying, "It appears that he simply lent his bank account at Mr. A’s request" and "considering that he did not gain any actual benefit from the crime."

Meanwhile, according to data on financial accidents since 2019 submitted by the NongHyup Central Association and the Fisheries Cooperative Central Association to Democratic Party lawmaker Im Mi-ae on the 14th, there have been 300 financial accidents in mutual finance of agricultural, livestock, and fisheries cooperatives over the past five years, resulting in damages exceeding 113.7 billion KRW.

In the case of agricultural and livestock cooperatives, 280 incidents and 110.1 billion KRW in financial accidents occurred. The amount recovered was 47 billion KRW, with a recovery rate of 43%, and the damage amounted to 63.1 billion KRW. By type of accident, embezzlement was the most frequent with 75 cases, followed by private loans at 55 cases, improper access to personal information at 35 cases, violations of the real-name financial system at 28 cases, and fraud at 26 cases. For fisheries cooperatives, there were a total of 20 financial accidents. The amount involved was 3.6 billion KRW, with about 1.6 billion KRW recovered, showing a recovery rate of approximately 44%.

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