[Exclusive] Prosecutors: "Son Tae-seung advised employee promoted after brother-in-law's request to 'be careful not to stand out'"

"Promoted Due to Brother-in-Law's Request
Pressured to Approve Loans Brokered by Brother-in-Law"
"Ignored Reports About Brother-in-Law's Activities"

It has been confirmed through a prosecution investigation that former Woori Financial Group Chairman Sohn Tae-seung pressured a loan officer, who was promoted due to a request from Sohn's wife's older brother, to approve 'illegal' loans.

According to the indictment of former Chairman Sohn submitted by the Ministry of Justice to the office of Park Hee-seung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, on the 12th, Sohn received a request from his wife's older brother in 2021 regarding Mr. Lim, who was then the head of the sales group at Woori Bank's Sindorim-dong Financial Center. The request was to "promote him to head of the division and transfer him to the Seolleung Financial Center." Around December 23 of that year, Sohn promoted Lim to head of the division. Former Vice President Sung also received a request from Sohn's wife's older brother to promote and assign personnel, and promoted him on February 25, 2022. Subsequently, the brother-in-law was involved in the personnel appointment of Lim's successor, and on December 30, 2022, Sohn appointed the employee requested by the brother-in-law as the head of the Seolleung Financial Center.

According to the prosecution, after Lim was promoted to head of the division, Sohn called him and said, "You were promoted with difficulty, you know? Congratulations, and be careful not to stand out too much." Around November 2022, Sohn also told former Vice President Sung to "keep a close eye" on loans brokered by the brother-in-law who acted as a loan broker. Around April 2023, Sohn called again and said, "Please take good care of my brother."

It was revealed that Sohn ignored multiple internal reports warning him to be cautious of his brother-in-law from 2018 to 2022. Around August 2018, Sohn received a report from a Woori Bank auditor stating, "There are rumors that the brother-in-law is acting as a loan broker for Woori Bank, so it would be good to warn him." Between 2020 and 2021, Sohn received information from the chairman of the Woori Bank labor union that "many Woori Bank employees visit the brother-in-law frequently." In 2022, Sohn received a report from the head of the Woori Bank PR brand group stating, "The chairman's relative, the brother-in-law, carries a business card as an honorary branch manager of Woori Bank and claims to have influence within the bank. The chairman should be aware of this, and since it is not good for the chairman, it would be best to take action."

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In January 2022, Sohn personally delivered a whistleblower report to the deputy head of the credit group stating, "The brother-in-law is acting as a loan broker, and a considerable number of non-performing loans related to this are being secretly handled within the bank, with Mr. Lim in charge of the practical work." Nevertheless, the prosecution judged that Sohn took no action.

According to the prosecution, Sohn ignored opposition from former Woori Bank President Kwon Kwang-seok while assisting the promotion of those who facilitated loans for his brother-in-law. In the December 2021 promotion of division heads at Woori Bank, Lim ranked 99th out of 100 in the first evaluation by the HR department and 71st out of 100 in the second evaluation by the promotion recommendation committee. Based on these results, former President Kwon excluded Lim from the promotion list and sent the results to Woori Financial Group.

However, Sohn instructed that Lim be included in the promotion list. In response, former President Kwon refused, saying, "How can you promote someone with such poor disciplinary records to head of the division? I absolutely cannot sign off on this personnel matter, so reconsider it." After Sohn received this, he repeatedly instructed Kwon two to three times. When Kwon again refused, saying, "How can I approve such personnel?" Sohn said, "Who does he think he is to say yes or no? How arrogant." This remark was overheard by the then head of Woori Bank's HR group and was reported to former President Kwon.