A former chief executive officer of HDC Shilla Duty Free has been sentenced to prison for smuggling luxury watches.
According to the legal community on the 11th, the Incheon District Court sentenced A, the former chief executive officer of HDC Shilla Duty Free, to 1 year and 6 months in prison for violating the tariff law and ordered his detention. A confiscation order of over 172 million won was also issued.
A was charged with smuggling four luxury watches from Hong Kong without declaring them to customs from April to October 2016. The market value of those luxury watches is reported to be about 172.57 million won.
A facilitated a transaction in which an employee of a Hong Kong special sales company purchased luxury watches at duty-free prices domestically, and then former and current employees of HDC Shilla Duty Free received and imported those luxury watches from Hong Kong.
Although there are purchase limits for domestic customers at duty-free shops, there are no restrictions on the purchase amounts for foreigners. Previously, the prosecution requested a three-year sentence and the confiscation of 172 million won.
The court stated, 'A was in a position to prevent duty-free product smuggling while facilitating the purchase of high-priced smuggled goods through employees, indicating serious misconduct,' and added that 'the transaction companies and employees were also subjected to criminal penalties.'
The court also sentenced two of the six individuals, including four former and current employees of HDC Shilla Duty Free and representatives and employees of the special sales company in Hong Kong, to prison terms of 4 to 6 months with a 1-year probation period and ordered confiscation of between 110 million and 153 million won.
The remaining four received a 1-year probation and confiscation of between 19 million and 120 million won. The court also issued a fine of 5 million won and ordered confiscation of 19 million won from HDC Shilla Duty Free, where A served as chief executive officer.