Court Rules Demotion Justified for Police Official Who Faked Sons' Employment and Aided Embezzlement

A court has ruled that the demotion of a senior police official who had his two sons falsely employed at an acquaintance's company and aided in embezzlement was lawful.

The 14th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court (Presiding Judge Lee Sang-deok) ruled against the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by a person identified as A seeking to overturn the disciplinary demotion against the Commissioner General of the Korean National Police Agency.

Person A, who served as a senior superintendent and head of a frontline police station, filed the lawsuit after receiving a demotion and a disciplinary surcharge of approximately 73 million won in June of last year, ahead of scheduled retirement.

The court determined that all grounds for disciplining A were recognized and that there were no issues with the disciplinary action.

According to the grounds for discipline, A asked acquaintances operating companies to hire his two sons to fabricate fake work experience for them.

The two sons were registered as employees at different companies without actually working there, and one of them even used this employment history to get a job at another enterprise.

In the process, A also aided in the embezzlement of company funds by handing over his sons' salary bank accounts and check cards to the company representative.

The court pointed out, "The representative stated during the investigation that A asked to 'put his son on the payroll for a while and handle the salary as you see fit,' and it appears that A either intended for the representative to use the sons' salaries or at least was aware that the representative would use an amount equivalent to the salaries."

It was also investigated that A had his spouse registered as an employee at a company run by an acquaintance without actually working there.

The court recognized the approximately 24 million won in social insurance premiums, such as health insurance, paid on behalf by the companies that falsely employed A's family members, as economic benefits obtained by A.

A argued that "since the sons are already financially independent, the social insurance premiums cannot be viewed as a benefit," but this was not accepted.

The court judged that "it is sufficient to evaluate this as receiving economic benefits equivalent to the social insurance premiums paid on behalf by the companies that made false hires," concluding that it constitutes a violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.

The court further noted, "A requested false employment thinking that creating work experience would help his sons get jobs after they repeatedly failed even the document screening stages in their job hunts following college graduation," adding, "Since A requested the false employment for sons whose living expenses A covers, the 'creation of work experience and social insurance benefits' must be regarded as benefits."

Accordingly, the court deemed both the demotion and the disciplinary surcharge of approximately 73 million won—which is three times the amount of the social insurance premiums paid on behalf—to be justified, and dismissed the claim.

A has expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling and filed an appeal with the court.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.