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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] Employees of a local credit cooperative and a real estate developer, already on trial over a KRW 180 billion fraudulent lending scheme, are now suspected of executing an additional KRW 20 billion in illicit loans during an ongoing police investigation.
According to the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency on May 16, authorities have booked three employees affiliated with a Seongnam-based Saemaul Geumgo and four individuals including a real estate developer on charges of violating the Saemaul Geumgo Act and breach of trust.
The investigation was launched after the National Credit Union Federation of Korea filed a complaint earlier this month, alleging that the suspects arranged approximately KRW 20 billion in fraudulent loans around December 2024. The scheme reportedly involved creating multiple paper companies under borrowed names to circumvent lending limits.
Authorities believe the suspects inflated collateral values through circular transactions between affiliated entities and falsified documents to secure the loans.
The case follows an earlier scandal in which 29 individuals—including employees, developers, and nominee borrowers—were found to have orchestrated approximately KRW 180 billion in illegal loans at the same credit union between 2020 and 2024.
The four individuals newly accused are part of the broader group already indicted without detention on charges including fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.
Under Korean regulations, loans to a single borrower from a Saemaul Geumgo entity cannot exceed 20% of its equity capital or 1% of total assets. Investigators suspect the group bypassed these limits using similar methods as in the earlier scheme.
Police believe the employees facilitated the loans to boost lending performance, while the developer allegedly used the funds for real estate projects.
The federation stated that the additional misconduct occurred while the initial investigation was already underway and was uncovered during a subsequent internal audit, prompting the latest complaint to authorities.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
