Woori Bank Employee and Younger Sibling Detained in Detention Center
Search and Seizure Conducted at Related Parties' Residences and Others
[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] On the 29th, the prosecution conducted additional raids on Jeon Mo (43), an employee of Woori Bank who was arrested and indicted on charges of embezzling 61.4 billion KRW of company funds, along with his accomplice younger brother (41) and their aides.
The prosecution is reportedly investigating the brothers and their aides on suspicion of laundering money and concealing criminal proceeds.
The Crime Proceeds Recovery Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lim Se-jin) announced that on the same day, prosecutors and investigators executed search warrants at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, where Jeon and his brother are detained, as well as at their residences and those of related parties.
Earlier, on May 24, the 7th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Man-heum) arrested and indicted the two on charges of embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and property concealment abroad under the same law. The main suspect Jeon was also charged with forgery and use of forged official documents, as well as forgery and use of forged private documents.
After receiving the case from the police in early May, the prosecution confirmed through supplementary investigation that Jeon and his brother had laundered part of the embezzled funds through a paper company established overseas and added charges of property concealment abroad under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes against them.
Individual investor A (48), who knowingly received about 1.6 billion KRW of the embezzled funds from Jeon as payment for investment information, was also arrested and indicted alongside the Jeon brothers on charges of violating the Act on the Regulation of Concealment of Criminal Proceeds.
According to the prosecution, Jeon and his brother, who worked in the Corporate Improvement Department at Woori Bank’s headquarters, are suspected of embezzling approximately 61.4 billion KRW held in Woori Bank accounts by arbitrarily withdrawing the funds in three installments from October 2012 to June 2018 and using them for personal purposes such as stock index option trading.
Additionally, the prosecution uncovered and included in the indictment that from January 2013 to November 2014, the two transferred about 5 billion KRW to accounts of paper companies established overseas without reporting overseas direct investment or foreign currency deposit transactions, disguising the transfers as payments for goods transactions.
The investigation team, supported by specialized crime proceeds recovery investigators from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, confirmed that immediately after the embezzlement, the suspects established paper companies overseas and transferred assets abroad to conceal them, conducting direct investigations to uncover these charges.
In Jeon’s case, from October 2015 to June 2018, he is also charged with forging documents under the names of specific committees or public corporations to justify the withdrawals and using the forged documents (forgery and use of forged official documents, forgery and use of forged private documents).
At that time, the prosecution also requested seizure preservation on about 6.6 billion KRW worth of assets including apartments, vehicles, and unlisted stocks registered under the names of the Jeon brothers and their family, following an application by the Seoul Namdaemun Police Station.
After the prosecution’s indictment, the Financial Supervisory Service confirmed and additionally notified the prosecution that the embezzlement occurred eight times over eight years from June 2012 to June 2020, with the total embezzled amount reaching 69.73 billion KRW.
Based on the scale and duration of the crimes, as well as the use of overseas paper companies and multiple suspected nominee accounts, the prosecution has been investigating the possibility of accomplices aiding the suspects.
According to financial authorities, most of the money embezzled by Jeon was a contract deposit that Woori Bank had to return to Entekhab, an Iranian home appliance company involved in the sale of Daewoo Electronics.
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