"Spent It All on Gambling" Former Moa Savings Bank Employee Embezzled 5.9 Billion Won, Admits Charges

Company Forges Documents to Request Contract Loan from Bank
Charged with 7 Counts...Admits All Charges in First Trial

On the 19th, a former employee of Moa Savings Bank, accused of embezzling loan funds worth approximately 5.9 billion won, admitted to all charges in the first trial.
/Photo by Incheon District Court.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jung-wan] A former employee of Moa Savings Bank, accused of embezzling corporate loans worth approximately 5.9 billion KRW, admitted all charges in the first trial and revealed that he squandered all the embezzled loan money on gambling.

At the trial held on the 19th, presided over by the Criminal Division 14 of Incheon District Court (Chief Judge Im Jeong-taek), the defense attorney of A (34), a former employee of Moa Savings Bank’s headquarters who was indicted and detained on charges including fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, stated, "The defendant admits all the charges." He added, "We also agree with all the evidence, including the investigation report and deposit/withdrawal transaction statements submitted by the prosecution."

A faces seven charges in total: △fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, △forgery of private documents, △use of forged private documents, △forgery of signatures, △use of forged signatures, △violation of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, and △violation of the Act on the Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment.

When the court asked, "Are you aware of the amount returned to the victim or the amount the defendant consumed?" A’s defense replied, "We understand that all was used for gambling." Earlier, during investigations by the prosecution and police, A had stated, "I lost all the money through gambling."

A is accused of embezzling 5.89 billion KRW of bank funds, corporate loans, while working at Moa Savings Bank’s headquarters in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, from October 8 last year to January 6 this year. He was in charge of project financing (PF) loan operations and is believed to have fabricated documents to make it appear as if companies were requesting agreed loan amounts from the bank.

The "agreed loan" method sets the total loan amount at the initial contract, and companies borrow money within the limit by requesting funds from the bank as needed. A used his younger sister B’s account number instead of his own on the loan request documents, and B transferred the deposited loan funds to her brother’s account.

A, who did not come to work for several days after the crime, voluntarily appeared before the police after the bank reported the case and the investigation began. Upon examining A’s account details, the police found that a significant amount had been transferred to gambling sites.