[Exclusive] Another Corruption Scandal at Saemaeul Geumgo, This Time Employee Accepts 170 Million Won Bribe

[Asia Economy Reporters Jang Sehee and Boo Aeri] The National Credit Union Federation of Korea (NACUFOK) is planning to file a criminal complaint with the prosecution against an employee accused of granting loans and receiving bribes.

On the 11th, according to a comprehensive report by Asia Economy, NACUFOK is set to report employee A, who works at the Seongsu 1-ga NACUFOK headquarters in Seoul, to the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office on charges of accepting bribes worth approximately 170 million KRW.

A, who was in charge of joint loan operations, is said to have granted loans under favorable conditions to related companies and received bribes in return. Typically, NACUFOK, which has a loan limit of around 5 billion KRW, conducts "joint loans" by partnering with several nearby NACUFOK branches when handling large-scale loans.

For large loans amounting to several billion KRW, interest costs can be significantly reduced depending on the interest rate conditions, which sometimes leads borrowers to illegally offer commissions to bank employees. NACUFOK believes that A also accepted bribes as a form of solicitation and is continuing discussions on internal disciplinary measures. Currently, A has been suspended from their position.

Although NACUFOK has grown to an asset size of 260 trillion KRW by pooling funds from ordinary citizens, outdated corruption and bad practices are repeated annually. Since 2017, the number of corruption incidents has approached 100 cases. Particularly, employee corruption at NACUFOK varies widely, including embezzlement cases, a 38 billion KRW fraudulent loan involving fake diamonds, and bribery by employees like in this case. Even Park Cha-hoon, the NACUFOK chairman, is facing a second trial today on charges of distributing gift sets and golf course vouchers to delegates ahead of elections.

The main reasons for the recurrence of such bad practices at NACUFOK are cited as the autocratic chairpersons and the lack of an internal control system. NACUFOK operates with chairpersons managing independently like CEOs. The NACUFOK headquarters does not operate branches but functions as a kind of control tower.

According to NACUFOK, there are 1,295 headquarters nationwide and 3,218 branches, which are considered extensions of the headquarters. Nearly 1,300 branches are operated individually by chairpersons. NACUFOK insiders say that with chairpersons ruling autocratically, employees who simply follow the chairpersons’ orders are likely to become morally lax. For this reason, the National Assembly passed a bill to elect chairpersons by direct vote starting in 2025.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the supervisory authority of NACUFOK, has launched a full-scale investigation of all NACUFOK headquarters. The ministry is expected to announce a restructuring plan this month that includes consolidating some branches. Regarding this, a NACUFOK official stated, "There is no harm to members at all. The disciplinary procedures against A have been fully completed," and added, "We will strengthen internal controls more strictly going forward."