A former executive who was put on trial on charges of receiving illegal loans worth about 100 billion won from another financial institution while working at Meritz Securities under the pretext of real estate investment funds for a family company has been sentenced to prison.
According to legal sources on the 28th, the Criminal Agreement Division 23 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Oh Se-yong) sentenced a person surnamed Park, who was indicted on charges including bribery and embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, to eight years in prison and a fine of 1 billion won on the 16th.
A former employee of Meritz Securities, a person surnamed Kim, who was indicted on charges of brokering the loans in return for money from Park (violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes for taking bribes and breach of duty), was sentenced to five years in prison, a fine of 500 million won, and forfeiture of about 460 million won. Another former employee, a person surnamed Lee, was each sentenced to four years in prison, a fine of 400 million won, and forfeiture of about 380 million won.
According to the indictment, Park, while employed at Meritz Securities, established a real estate investment company under family members' names in early 2014 and is accused of obtaining a total of 118.6 billion won in loans from other financial institutions from Oct. 2014 to Sept. 2017 through referrals from subordinates. Investigators believe the funds were used for the family company's real estate investments.
Park was found to have used real estate project financing (PF) information obtained in the course of duties to acquire and lease 11 real estate properties through the family company and to have earned capital gains from sales.
The court said, "Park's crimes severely undermine trust in the integrity of financial company executives and employees and the fairness of their duties, and constitute crimes that disrupt sound transaction order in the financial market."
Park, who was serving as a headquarters chief (executive) around Oct. 2023, was reportedly found in an internal audit to have operated a family company related to job duties and resigned. The Financial Supervisory Service confirmed in a planned inspection in Jan. 2024 that Park had used job information to acquire and sell real estate and reported the case to prosecutors, who indicted Park without detention in Aug. of the same year.