Agricultural and Livestock Cooperative Executives Embezzle 29 Billion Won of Customer Funds This Year Alone

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Embezzlement incidents involving employees of agricultural and livestock cooperatives have continued, resulting in this year's embezzlement amount matching that of the past five years.

According to the 'Agricultural and Livestock Cooperative Employee Embezzlement Incidents and Measures Status' data submitted by the Nonghye-Suwi Committee member Lee Dal-gon of the People Power Party on the 25th from the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, a total of 38 embezzlement incidents occurred this year as of September, with the embezzled amount reaching 28.9 billion KRW.

Considering that the embezzled amount over the past five years was 51.9 billion KRW (212 cases), more than half (55.6%) of the total embezzled amount was concentrated this year.

The main cause is the large number of major embezzlement incidents this year. Mr. A from the Paju branch of the Gimpo-Paju Ginseng Agricultural Cooperative embezzled a total of 9 billion KRW over five years from May 2018 to June 2022 by falsely purchasing goods. Mr. B, an employee of Opo Agricultural Cooperative, used the cashier's key without authorization to access the safe and withdraw petty cash, embezzling a total of 5.2 billion KRW. Additionally, Mr. C, an employee at the Guui Station branch of the Central Agricultural Cooperative, abused customer information by using the name of an elderly regular deposit customer to obtain a secured loan, embezzling 5 billion KRW.

There were also branches where embezzlement incidents repeated every year. In the case of Gangdong Agricultural Cooperative, embezzlement incidents occurred for four consecutive years from 2019 to 2022, and including this branch, there were 12 places where embezzlement incidents repeatedly occurred over the past five years (2017 to September 2022).

Representative Lee pointed out, "The repeated occurrence of embezzlement incidents is causing the trust in the agricultural cooperatives to decline," and emphasized, "Special measures must be prepared to eradicate embezzlement incidents, including strengthening supervision by the central federation."