Embezzled Hundreds of Millions Won with Astounding Scheme, Yet Got Slap on the Wrist

[Anchor]

Daehan Land Trust, a subsidiary of the Military Mutual Aid Association, is a company that develops and manages trusted land. Employees here were caught embezzling hundreds of millions of won in company funds after establishing companies under the names of their family members. Despite this, the company handed down only light disciplinary actions.

This is an exclusive report by reporter Min Gyeongho.

[Reporter]

This is a large logistics center in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province.

With four floors above ground and one basement level, a general logistics company is currently based here.

Daehan Land Trust, which is 100% owned by the Military Mutual Aid Association, established a REITs business entity in 2020 and began operating this logistics center.

The business involves securing real estate to be operated with funds raised from investors and then distributing rental profits. In this process, a basement rental consulting contract worth approximately 247 million won was signed with a certain company.

However, it turned out that the mother of Team Leader A from Daehan Land Trust's REITs Division was an internal director of that consulting company.

A similar incident occurred during a rental housing development project in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, pursued by Daehan Land Trust.

Last year, a real estate sales advisory contract was signed with a company where the mother of Manager B from the same team served as the representative and the father of Team Leader A was listed as the name holder, resulting in a payment of approximately 220 million won.

It was revealed that employees belonging to this team made indirect investments, such as investing millions of won into another company fronted by Team Leader A's father, which in turn invested in the REITs operating the Icheon logistics center.

After receiving related tips, Daehan Land Trust launched an internal audit. In November of last year, it only resolved to suspend Team Leader A, Manager B, and Deputy General Manager C—who is accused of concealing contracts with the family companies—for one to three months.

It was only after the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport conducted an additional special inspection that Daehan Land Trust dismissed all three individuals, while employees from the same team were given suspensions or salary reductions.

[Kim Seong-hoe / Member of the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly (Democratic Party of Korea): Without professional management and oversight, didn't the people on the front lines think, "We can get away with this kind of mischief"? (We need to ensure) that audit officials can operate with more professionalism and independence.]

Daehan Land Trust explained, "We will strengthen internal controls to prevent recurrence," while adding, "Suspension is a heavy disciplinary action second only to dismissal, so it cannot be considered a light punishment."

Having received a complaint accusing them of occupational breach of trust and violations of the Real Estate Investment Company Act from Daehan Land Trust, the police have also launched an investigation.

(Camera and video reporting: Park Hyun-chul, Kim Yong-woo | Video editing: Kim Jun-hee)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.