[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo (67), who was acquitted in the first trial, was found guilty by an appeals court on charges of influencing certain applicants to pass in the process of hiring new employees at Hana Bank.

The Criminal Affairs Appeal Department 1 (Senior Judge Woo In-sung) at the Seoul Western District Court on the 23rd sentenced Ham, who was indicted on charges of obstruction of business and violation of the Gender Equality Act, to six months in prison, suspended for two years and fined 3 million won.

Jang Ki-yong (68), former vice president of Hana Bank, who was indicted with Ham on charges of obstruction of business, maintained the first trial's ruling, which sentenced him to six months in prison and two years of probation. Hana Bank's corporation, which was indicted with Ham on charges of violating the Gender Equality Act, was fined 7 million won as in the first trial.

The judging panel of the trial on an appeal case found Ham guilty of intervening in the irregularity of a particular applicant during a camp interview while hiring in 2016.

He was also found guilty of ordering the ratio of new bankers to be 4 to 1 in the hiring process between 2015 and 2016.

If Ham's sentence is confirmed by the Supreme Court during his term, he will lose his chairmanship. Ham was appointed as the chairman of Hana Financial Group with a three-year term in March 2022.

Under the Financial Company Restructuring Act, a person who has been sentenced to a suspended jail term of imprisonment or higher and is in the grace period cannot be an executive of a financial company.

An official at Hana Bank said, "There is no regulation in internal regulations that stipulates the resignation of the chairman until the sentence is confirmed."

 

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