Police Investigate Former Namyang Dairy Chairman's Family Over Luxury Sofa Purchased with Company Funds

Police have launched an investigation into allegations that the family of former Namyang Dairy Chairman Hong Won-sik purchased a luxury sofa worth around 150 million won using company funds and kept it at their private residence.

The Seoul Gangnam Police Station announced that it has booked and is investigating former Namyang Dairy Advisor Lee, the wife of former Chairman Hong, and their son, former Namyang Dairy Managing Director Hong, on charges of professional breach of trust.

The suspects are accused of using approximately 154 million won in company funds in 2018 to purchase an expensive sofa under the pretext of placing it in a restaurant business outlet that Namyang Dairy was pursuing, and instead keeping it at Advisor Lee's home.

The sofa in question was designed by the Swiss-born architect and designer Pierre Jeanneret. Police discovered and secured the sofa at Advisor Lee's residence.

At the time, former Managing Director Hong was in charge of Namyang Dairy's overall restaurant business, while Advisor Lee reportedly participated as the actual manager of the restaurant business.

The police plan to investigate the overall suspicions, including whether the sofa was actually intended for use in the restaurant business.

The two were previously convicted of embezzling about 3.7 billion won in company funds.

In January, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Advisor Lee to two years and six months in prison suspended for four years, and former Managing Director Hong to two years in prison suspended for four years.

Reported by Park Se-won | Video by Jang Yu-jin | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.