A former employee of Woori Bank's Gyeongnam branch, who was indicted and detained on charges of embezzling customer loan funds worth tens of billions of won by manipulating documents, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
On the afternoon of the 15th, during the sentencing hearing at the Changwon District Court's 2nd Criminal Division (Presiding Judge Kim Sunghwan), the prosecution requested the court to hand down this sentence.
The prosecution also requested a fine of 100 million won and the confiscation of approximately 10.54 billion won.
According to the prosecution, from July last year to May this year, Mr. A was indicted on charges of submitting 35 false loan applications under the names of 17 customers, including individuals and businesses, and embezzling a total of 17.77 billion won in loan funds.
Between July and September last year, Mr. A contacted two individual loan customers and deceived them by saying, "For the remaining loan procedures, the already deposited loan funds need to be temporarily withdrawn," and received 220 million won into an acquaintance's account.
He forged loan application documents such as credit transaction agreements by stealing the identities of 17 loan customers and sent them to the bank's headquarters staff, making it appear as if the customers themselves had applied for the loans.
It was revealed that most of the embezzled money was invested in overseas futures and cryptocurrencies.
On this day, the prosecution stated, "Of the damages, 10.5 billion won has not yet been recovered, and even excluding the 4.4 billion won secured through pre-indictment confiscation, the damages exceed 6 billion won," adding, "Since this is effectively an irrecoverable amount, we ask for a 20-year prison sentence."
Mr. A's attorney argued, "Woori Bank also bears responsibility for inadequate supervision, and considering that Mr. A repaid approximately 7 billion won and turned himself in, we ask for leniency."
Mr. A admitted to all charges in the previous trial, while Woori Bank submitted a petition requesting a severe punishment for Mr. A.
Previously, Woori Bank detected suspicious activity and uncovered the financial crime through its internal control system.
After being asked by the bank to explain himself, Mr. A turned himself in to the police on June 10 and was detained on June 12 before being brought to trial.
The sentencing for this case is scheduled for December 12.
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