60s Businessman Sentenced to Prison for Issuing False Checks Over 1 Billion Won

"700 Won Margin per Bag" Rice Trading Scam
Issuance of False Tax Invoices Worth 1 Billion Won

A businessman in his 60s who issued false checks worth over 1 billion won during business operations was sentenced to prison.

On the 16th, Judge Kim Jae-eun of the Criminal Division 13 at the Seoul Southern District Court announced that A (63), accused of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and fraud, was sentenced to 5 years and 10 months in prison.

A was charged with issuing checks on a corporate checking account opened by the corporation he operated, knowing that there was no deposit balance and that payment would be refused, thereby preventing the holders of the checks from receiving payment. Using this method, A issued 22 checking checks worth approximately 1.089 billion won in January 2019.

Additionally, A deceived business partners by saying, "Since I signed a contract with Company B, if you supply rice to me, I will give you a margin of 700 won per 20kg bag," and from May 2017 to February 2019, he received payments totaling 32.4 million won and rice worth approximately 232.48 million won in several transactions.

A is also accused of issuing four false tax invoices totaling 1,081,202,000 won.

Furthermore, it was confirmed that A had multiple prior records, including violations of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and false accusations.

The court stated, "The defendant has a history of multiple punishments including imprisonment for fraud and other crimes, and committed a significant number of offenses during the recidivism period resulting from punishment for violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes," adding, "The defendant undermined the general public's trust in the circulation of checks and damaged sound trading order." The court further noted, "The amount involved in the falsely issued tax invoices is not insignificant," and "The crimes related to tax invoices interfere with the state's exercise of tax collection rights and damage trust in the appropriateness and fairness of tax collection, which makes the nature of the crime unfavorable."

However, the fact that A confessed to some of the crimes and that considerations of fairness should be made if tried simultaneously with other fraud charges were taken as mitigating circumstances.