Court: "Undermined Public Officials' Integrity and Used Criminal Proceeds for Gambling, Making the Crime Especially Serious"
A security guard at Cheonan City Hall has been sentenced to a heavy prison term for embezzling 1.7 billion won in land compensation by forging documents.
On the 22nd, the Cheonan Branch of the Daejeon District Court Criminal Division 1 (Presiding Judge Jeon Kyungho) sentenced Mr. A (40), who was arrested and indicted on charges including violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (fraud), to seven years in prison and a fine of 40 million won. In addition, 1,073,763,500 won was ordered to be forfeited.
For Mr. B and six others who were indicted without detention for assisting A's crime or offering bribes, the court sentenced each of them to between six months and two years and six months in prison, with the execution of the sentence suspended for two to three years.
Mr. A, who was in charge of land compensation affairs, is accused of fraudulently obtaining about 1.7 billion won from Cheonan City in 23 instances by applying for compensation for land, structures, and agricultural losses under residents' names, including land outside the project area or designating false rights holders.
It was revealed that he promised residents a reward, received their cards to withdraw compensation funds, or laundered money using acquaintances' bank accounts.
He is also accused of demanding and receiving 15 million won as a fee from a petitioner, promising to help them receive a larger compensation amount.
The seven residents are accused of providing Mr. A with compensation application documents and bank accounts, and receiving a reward in return.
Mr. A distributed 100 million won of the compensation funds to his accomplices depending on their level of involvement, and squandered most of the remaining amount on gambling.
The court stated, "Mr. A embezzled a large sum of compensation by creating false official documents, undermining the integrity of civil servants and the fairness of the compensation payment process, resulting in a loss of one billion won," and added, "He demanded bribes in exchange for compensation, involved residents in the crime, and used most of the criminal proceeds for gambling, which makes the crime particularly serious."
The court continued, "The remaining defendants cannot be considered to have committed a minor offense, as they at least implicitly recognized that Mr. A was fraudulently obtaining compensation funds and still cooperated. However, we considered the fact that some damages have been recovered and that the defendants admitted to the crimes."
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