A former executive vice president of Shinhan Card, accused of unlawfully ensuring the admission of an affiliate executive's daughter who had failed during the hiring interview process, received a suspended prison sentence in the first trial.
Kang Sung-jin, a single judge of Criminal Division 16 at the Seoul Central District Court, said on the 5th that the former Shinhan Card executive vice president, identified only as A, who was charged with obstruction of business, was sentenced recently to six months in prison, suspended for two years.
In 2016, A received a request from B, the president of Shinhan Capital, an affiliate in the same group, who said, "My daughter applied, so please take a good look." At the time, A was serving as head of the management support division overseeing Shinhan Card's human resources team.
After A learned that B's daughter had failed at the working-level interview stage, A directed an HR staffer to give her an additional chance. The hiring manager who received the instruction passed B at the first working-level interview. In the subsequent second interview, B's daughter's ranking was also changed from 8th out of 9 to 4th. After this hiring process, B's daughter was finally admitted.
Prosecutors indicted A in April 2022 on charges of interfering with the second-round interviewers' interview work and Shinhan Card's hiring operations by unlawfully ensuring B's daughter passed.
The court found A guilty. The panel said, "Hiring corruption based on a personal request results in employing someone unrelated to the factors corporations require, such as ability," adding, "It runs counter to a corporation's interests and ultimately causes harm."
The panel also said, "As the vice president of a large financial company, the defendant allowed an applicant to gain an unfair advantage in the hiring process due to a personal request, and a corresponding punishment is necessary."
A has appealed the first-trial ruling.