On the 1st, prosecutors indicted nine people, including current and former employees of the Industrial Bank of Korea, on charges of illegally lending 35 billion won. The prosecution plans to continue its investigation into additional crimes and other related parties, as there are still amounts suspected of being involved in illegal loans.
On this day, the first division of the anti-corruption investigation at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, led by Director General Lee Jun-dong, indicted Kim, a representative running a real estate development company who is a former employee of the Industrial Bank of Korea, as well as Jo, the head of a loan review center at one of the bank's branches, and Jo, the head of the team at another loan review center and the spouse of Kim, the branch manager An, branch manager Jo, and branch manager Kim, on charges of breach of trust and fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. Among them, Kim and Jo have been detained.
According to the prosecution, Kim is known to have established several corporations under other people's names while running the development company after retiring from the Industrial Bank of Korea. Kim is suspected of conspiring with acquaintances who work at the bank to illegally lend money on 21 occasions to a company he actually manages and to another company that requested loans from him.
Commercial banks set loan limits for companies controlled by the same person. The prosecution believes that Kim applied for loans after establishing several corporations under other people's names to evade these regulations. Kim also appears to have submitted false business plans and forged contracts to the bank. The prosecution has indicated that those who received requests from Kim, including the representative Jo and branch managers, inadequately assessed the company's creditworthiness and repayment ability before granting the loans.
Kim is reported to have given a total of 206.55 million won in goods to Jo, the head of the center, in exchange for granting loans to his company, which did not meet the loan requirements last year. It is said that among the items Kim provided was a 20% equity stake in the company he manages. Kim is also under investigation for promising to grant illegal loans to the representatives of two other real estate development companies in exchange for 3.86 billion won and an additional 300 million won.
Jo is also suspected of taking goods valued at 95.9 million won from the representative of another company in exchange for a loan.
The investigation into this case began when the Financial Supervisory Service referred the matter to prosecutors. It is believed that the total amount suspected of being illegally lent by current and former employees of the Industrial Bank of Korea is 89.8 billion won. As only the indictment for 35 billion won has been made this time, the prosecution has decided to continue investigating whether there were illegal loans related to the remaining amount.