"Your taxes came out higher" An accountant's suspicious report [True crime case]

[The Financial News] An office in Songpa District, Seoul, paid more than the actual tax due, under the pretext of tax payments. This happened because accounting clerk A, a 32-year-old employee in charge of managing company funds, inflated the tax amounts when reporting them. The scheme continued for more than a year, from September 2021 to December 2022.
It did not stop at falsifying the amounts. A also transferred company funds directly into a personal bank account. The money was used to pay off debts and cover living expenses. The number of such transfers gradually increased, and the total amount embezzled in this way reached about 143 million won.
An investigation revealed that this was not the full extent of A's crimes. During the same period, A also worked at another office and used the same method there, transferring about 87 million won from the company account to a personal account.
Throughout the employment period, A habitually left false records. In the supporting transaction histories, payments were described as tax or education expenses, but these entries were not true. A also frequently pretended to pay employees' annual leave allowances or settle transaction payments to business partners.
After the scheme was uncovered, A was brought to trial on charges of embezzling about 230 million won. Prosecutors alleged that from September 2021 to December 2022, A worked at two offices and repeatedly transferred money from company accounts to a personal account.
According to the legal community on the 10th, Criminal Single Judge Panel 9 of the Seoul Northern District Court, presided over by Judge Jang Won-jung of the Seoul Northern District Court, sentenced A on February 26 to two years and six months in prison for occupational embezzlement.
During the trial, A showed no sign of genuine remorse. There was no effort to compensate the victims, and A even fled before sentencing. The victims submitted petitions to the court, urging that A be punished severely.
The court also stated that A deserved a heavy sentence. It cited as aggravating factors the dishonest methods used, the large amount of damage, and the fact that A had not been forgiven by the victims.
jyseo@fnnews.com Seo Ji-yoon Reporter