Prison Sentence in First Trial
Suspended Sentence on Appeal
The CEO of a KT subcontractor, who was put on trial on charges including embezzlement and breach of trust, has received a final sentence of imprisonment with a suspended sentence.
According to the legal community on August 5, the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Shin Sookhee) upheld the original verdict sentencing Hwang Ukjung, CEO of KDFS, to two years and six months in prison with a three-year suspension, for charges of embezzlement and breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.
From 2017 to 2023, CEO Hwang was brought to trial on charges of embezzling company funds or causing financial damage to the company by listing his two children as fake employees and paying false consulting fees to outsiders. He was also accused of subcontracting building management service contracts, using corporate credit cards and vehicles for personal purposes, and arbitrarily providing special bonuses to himself and employees, causing a total loss of approximately 4.86 billion won.
In the first trial, CEO Hwang was sentenced to two years and six months in prison. Of the 4.8 billion won in embezzlement and breach of trust indicted by the prosecution, only 2.6 billion won was recognized as damages.
On appeal, the sentence was reduced to two years and six months in prison with a three-year suspension. The court found that some of the consulting fees and special bonuses paid by CEO Hwang were either unproven or did not constitute a crime, and therefore recognized the damages as approximately 2.2 billion won.
Both CEO Hwang and the prosecutor appealed, but the Supreme Court dismissed the appeals, finding no error in the lower court's judgment.
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