'KT Ilgam Molaeju-gi' Hwang Wook-jeong KDFS CEO Sentenced to 2 Years and 6 Months in First Trial... Taken into Custody

Bail Revoked... Accomplice Sentenced to 2 Years Imprisonment and 3 Years Probation

Hwang Wook-jung, CEO of KDFS, who was identified as having received special favors in connection with KT Group's alleged 'preferential treatment in work allocation,' was sentenced to prison and detained in court in the first trial.

Hwang Wook-jung (second from the left), CEO of KDFS, considered a key figure in the 'KT preferential treatment suspicion'.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 5th, the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 24 (Presiding Judge Choi Kyung-seo) sentenced CEO Hwang, who was indicted on charges including embezzlement and breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, to 2 years and 6 months in prison. The court also revoked the previously granted bail decision for Hwang and re-detained him in court. Additionally, Kang Mo, who was jointly indicted for assisting in the crime, was sentenced to 2 years in prison with a 3-year probation.

The court stated, "While securing the KT project, Hwang used past connections to make improper requests to project managers and provided monetary benefits such as corporate cards," and judged that "excluding other contractors and receiving service volumes to increase sales was an illegal method." Furthermore, the court pointed out, "Allowing his children to use the illegally accumulated company profits without permission, issuing corporate cards to third parties without any standards or procedures, and personally using as many as 12 corporate cards to cover health management and travel expenses were highly unethical and illegal acts."

The court also said, "Although about 850 million KRW out of the 2.6 billion KRW in damages caused by embezzlement and breach of trust has been repaid, it cannot be considered sufficient recovery," and criticized, "During the trial, he focused only on increasing sales and insisted it was for the company's benefit, showing no sincere remorse and failing to recognize what was wrong."

However, the court acquitted Hwang of some charges related to advisory fees and special performance bonuses, citing lack of evidence or that the acts were not criminal, recognizing the damage amount at approximately 2.6 billion KRW.

Previously, Hwang was tried on charges of embezzling company funds or causing company losses by registering two of his children as fake employees and paying false advisory fees to outsiders from 2017 to last year. He was also investigated for causing about 4.8 billion KRW in damages by subcontracting building management service volumes, privately using corporate cards and vehicles, and arbitrarily providing special performance bonuses to himself and employees. Hwang was detained and indicted in August last year but was released on bail in January.

Earlier, the prosecution investigated allegations that after the appointment of former CEO Koo Hyun-mo in 2020, KT Group changed the facility management (FM) work order company to its affiliate KT Telecop and funneled work volumes previously divided among four companies to KDFS and others, with former CEO Koo involved in creating slush funds. While investigating Hwang, suspected of receiving preferential treatment in work allocation, the prosecution uncovered his embezzlement and breach of trust charges and indicted him first.

However, in May, the prosecution cleared former CEO Koo of charges. Instead, Hwang was separately indicted again on charges of bribery (breach of trust mediation) for providing tens of millions of KRW in money and goods to three current and former KT executives in exchange for increasing building management service volumes.