Seoul Gangdong-gu Office. Hankook Ilbo’s photo.
The police applied for an arrest warrant for a public official in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, who embezzled 11 billion won worth of public funds and wasted them on stocks.
According to the police on the 25th, the Gangdong Police Station applied for an arrest warrant on the 24th at around 8:50 pm on the charge of embezzlement from work under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.
Kim is accused of embezzling 11.5 billion won of investment funds for a waste treatment facility in the Godeok Gangil district of Gangdong-gu.
As a result of the police investigation, it was confirmed that Kim, while working in the investment-related department in the ward office from December 2019, transferred money from the ward office bank account to his personal account dozens of times until February last year.
However, before the embezzlement was revealed, Kim returned 3.8 billion won out of 11.5 billion won to the ward office account, resulting in an actual damage of 7.7 billion won.
During the police investigation, Kim is known to have stated that “the embezzled money was used for stocks and coins.”
Even though Mr. Kim has been embezzling for nearly two years, it is said that the Gangdong-gu Office found out about this fact only two days ago and filed a complaint with the police.
A ward office official said, “An employee of the ward office committed abuse and recently reported it to the police.”
As soon as Kim’s warrant is issued, the police plan to investigate the specific use of the embezzlement, as well as the reason why the ward office did not find out about the embezzlement.
Park Jun-gyu reporter ssangkkal@hankookilbo.com
