Eunpyeong Housing Association Agency CEO Sent to Prosecution on 15.2 Billion Won Fraud Charges

Two individuals, including the representative of a local housing cooperative agency, were handed over to the prosecution on charges of embezzling 15.2 billion KRW by falsely recruiting members for a local housing cooperative.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 23rd, the Eunpyeong Police Station in Seoul announced that it had sent the agency representative Kwak and one other related person, who were in charge of the Bulgwang 2-dong Housing Cooperative (tentative name) in Eunpyeong-gu, to the prosecution. A police official stated, "Some of the suspects have been sent to the prosecution, and the investigation is ongoing."

In October of last year, 310 members of the Bulgwang 2-dong Housing Cooperative filed a complaint with the police accusing Kwak and nine agency employees of fraud. The amount of damage is known to have reached 15.2 billion KRW. In November of the same year, the police conducted a search and seizure of the agency’s office, Kwak’s residence, and the housing cooperative office.

The agency promoted that those who wished to move into a 25-story apartment complex to be built near Yeonsinnae Station in September 2019 should join the local housing cooperative. At that time, the agency claimed to have secured most of the land use rights necessary for establishing the cooperative and advertised that moving in would be possible within 2 to 3 years.

Believing this, 673 people joined the cooperative from 2019, paying contract deposits ranging from 55 million KRW to nearly 100 million KRW per person. However, as of October last year, the agency had secured only 27.7% of the land use rights, and it was found that no land had been purchased for the apartment complex construction. The promise to refund the paid amounts in case of problems was also not fulfilled.