[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] The suspected accomplice in the embezzlement of BNK Kyongnam Bank worth 100 billion won has been identified as an employee of a contract investment counselor at Korea Investment & Securities.

According to industry sources on the 30th, Hwang (52), who the prosecution recently identified as a suspected accomplice in the alleged embezzlement of 100 billion won by Lee (51), head of investment and finance at Kyongnam Bank, was an employee of a Seoul branch of Korea Investment & Securities. Hwang is a contract worker at Korea Investment & Securities and mainly worked as an investment counselor.

Hwang is from the same high school as Lee and is known to be close. Hwang is suspected of conspiring to embezzle about 61.7 billion won in project financing (PF) loans by impersonating a real estate developer and arbitrarily filling out a withdrawal note from August 2016 to October 2021. The prosecution has requested an arrest warrant for Hwang on charges of embezzlement and abetting the destruction of evidence under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. Hwang is said to have set up a corporation to invest in stocks beyond simply managing embezzlement funds. The Financial Supervisory Service, which investigated the initial case, said the company money Lee embezzled was about 56.2 billion won, but prosecutors believe Lee's embezzlement is worth up to 110 billion won.

In response, Korea Investment & Securities Co. said, "Kyongnam Bank is the place where the actual crime took place and has nothing to do with our company," adding, "It is an individual deviation."

Korea Investment & Securities added, "There was no procedural illegality in the process of opening an account and drawing funds, and it was difficult for the company to identify the sources of all the funds."

 

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