Wife not prosecuted for embezzling 700 million won from husband and using it for living expenses... “I’m not a co-principal.”

Prosecutors say, “The fact that the embezzled amount was remitted alone cannot prove prior knowledge.”

A, a woman in her 30s, who was sent to the prosecution on charges of using company money stolen by her husband for living expenses, was acquitted.

The Incheon District Prosecutors' Office decided on the 20th of last month not to indict Mr. A, who was sent to the prosecution on charges of embezzlement under the Aggravated Punishment for Specific Economic Crimes Act. Ms. A was accused of conspiring with her husband, Mr. B, to embezzle 700 million won in company funds over a period of 3 years and 6 months starting in April 2021.

This case began when the company discovered Mr. B's embezzlement and filed a complaint against Mr. A. Mr. B registered his wife, Mr. A, as an employee of the company and had her receive remittance of 130 million won as salary.

After Mr. B, who had been embezzling the company's money for over three years, could not handle it and committed suicide, the embezzlement was revealed by the company while reviewing the accounting data.

Mr. A completely denied the charges of embezzlement during the prosecution's investigation. Although she admitted that she had received a portion of the embezzlement, she claimed that she had no knowledge that her husband had embezzled company funds.

In addition, Ms. A explained, "My husband was completely in charge of financial management, including salary, and the amount remitted was not large, averaging about 3 million won per time," and "I used all the money I received for living expenses."

Accordingly, the prosecution acquitted Mr. A on the grounds that it was difficult to prove that he was aware of the embezzlement in advance based on the fact that he received monthly money transfers.

Attorney Kim Dong-jin of Daeryun Law Firm, who represented Mr. A, said, "In order to establish a joint crime, both the 'subjective requirement' of committing a crime together and the 'objective requirement' corresponding to the fact that it was committed must be met. Although it is true that a certain amount of money was transferred to Mr. A's account, Mr. A convincingly demonstrated that he had no knowledge of the source or purpose of the funds and was not involved in the process of using the money at all."

Reporter Jeong Ye-eun (ye9@kyeonggi.com)

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Wife not prosecuted for embezzling 700 million won from husband and using it for living expenses... “It’s not a co-principal” (Shortcut)