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[Apha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Paul Lee] Attention is focusing on the possibility of recovery as a series of embezzlements worth tens of billions of won have occurred from Woori Bank last year to Kyongnam Bank this year. The head of Kyongnam Bank also apologized for the embezzlement and expressed his intention to retrieve it as much as possible.
"We will not cause any damage to customers," Ye Kyung-tak, head of Kyongnam Bank, said in an official apology press conference on the 3rd. "We will recover the embezzlement funds as much as possible to minimize bank damage."
However, the prevailing opinion is that the actual recoverable amount will not be large.
In fact, according to Yoo Eui-dong, a member of the National Policy Committee of the National Assembly, only 6.131 billion won was actually recovered out of 87.081 billion won in embezzlement at commercial banks between 2018 and 2022. The recovery rate is only 7.04%.
In particular, Woori Bank's embezzlement case, which was pointed out to be similar to the Kyongnam Bank case, was only 820 million won, with a recovery rate of 1.12%.
Furthermore, the current situation of Kyongnam Bank embezzlement is even worse. Unlike the suspect in the Woori Bank case, who turned himself in, Lee, the embezzlement suspect, is currently on the run without losing contact. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, which is in charge of the case, has banned Lee from leaving the country and is tracing his whereabouts.
Prosecutors earlier raided Lee's residence in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 2nd, and raided about 10 places, including the Investment and Finance Department of Kyongnam Bank in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul, and the Seoul Sales Department of Kyongnam Bank in Jung-gu, Seoul.
The banking sector also believes that it will be difficult to recover the amount of embezzlement.
The Financial Supervisory Service has deployed an inspection team to the investment and finance department of Kyongnam Bank to find out how the accident occurred and whether there were any additional embezzlement accidents. Woori Bank's embezzlement was originally known to be around 50 billion won, but considering that the additional damage was confirmed through the Financial Supervisory Service investigation, Kyongnam Bank's embezzlement case is also likely to increase further.
AlphaBIZ 폴 리(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
