Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho deposited 515 million won in the company’s bank account, which he borrowed earlier.

“I paid it all back to the company. I didn’t even miss a penny, but I guess I will still have to pay for touching the company’s money.”

Gun-Ho gave a lot of thought on how he would handle the consequences.

“Once an outbound cash flow occurs in a business bank account for any reason, a statement for the activity must be made. The same applies to inbound cash flow as well. What am I gonna do then? Should I hand in my resignation letter and just quit my job? Even after paying all the money back to the company, I still have 530 million won in my personal bank account. It is enough money for myself to live by. Should I do that?”

Gun-Ho thought of confessing to what he did to the president.

“The president will get furious for the fact that I touched the company money. Even if I don’t tell the president, I can get caught during an internal audit or an external CPA audit…”

Gun-Ho had been racking his brains for a while but couldn’t find any good way to handle the situation.

“If I just quit the job and run away, I could be charged with a crime. Let’s start the wage distribution process for now. I will have to keep my 530 million won in my account at all costs…”

Gun-Ho went to the president’s office in order to start the wage distribution process.

“I will distribute paychecks this morning.”

“Hmm… you will? How much will it be in total?”

“It will be 214 million won. I will use the B2B discounted funds received from Mulpasaneop.”

“How much will be left after paying the wages?”

“301 million won will be left. The remaining funds will be used to pay for the raw materials on the 30th. And we will have to pay for the secured loan interest on the 28th.”

“Hmm. Okay.”

The president signed on the wage payment document.

After processing the wage payments, Gun-Ho started to again look for an easy way out.

“Maybe I should make it look like an employee loan, probably not. The amount of loan cannot be that big.”

A company sometimes lent money to its employees in an urgent situation. For example, to assist in an event of natural disaster, medical bills for surgery, etc. However, the amount would usually be a few million won. 500 million won would certainly not be adequate.

“Maybe I should make it look like that the president withdrew the funds temporarily and deposited back.”

Since the president was a top-level managerial decision maker, he could withdraw and deposit funds from and to the business account. However, it requires the president’s signature. Therefore, it was not an option Gun-Ho could take. Gun-Ho had to think deeper. His lip was almost healed from his biting last time; it started bleeding again.

“Hmm, that’s right. Let’s ask the accountant who is assisting our company work.”

Gun-Ho called the accountant office which had been working with the YS Tech. When Gun-Ho told them he was calling from the accounting team of the YS Tech, Manager Jeong who often came to Gun-Ho’s office picked up the phone.

“Manager Jeong? Hi, this is Gun-Ho Goo from YS Tech. May I speak to the accountant?”

“Our accountant? Is something wrong? Why don’t you talk to me?”

“No, I just have a few legal questions for my friend.”

“I am not sure if he is around. Give me a second.”

After a while, a man picked up the phone.

“This is the accountant, Jong-Soo Na.”

“Oh, hi. I am working with the YS accounting team. I am sorry to bother you. I am wondering if I could ask you a few questions if you don’t mind.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“My friend… he withdrew some money from his company business account and he deposited the same amount back to the account after a few days. In this case, will he be in trouble even though there is no financial loss on the company’s side?”

“You mean he transferred the money to his personal bank account?”

“I believe so.”

“If he transferred the funds to his personal account, then it is evidently illegal.”

“Is that so? Even though there is no loss to the company?”

“Of course. If he withdrew money and then deposited only a partial amount, then it would constitute to embezzlement. If he deposited all of the money back, then it wouldn’t amount to embezzlement. However, he would still be liable for using the company funds for personal use.”

“Can he be arrested for it?”

“If it is embezzlement, the company will file a report. However, if there is no loss or damage to the company, it would be up to the company.”

“I am not so sure, but as far as I know, my friend used that money to invest in something and made several million won out of it. In that case, can he keep the money he made?”

“Well, a business entity can invest in stocks. In this case, the earning is treated as a capital gain and should be deposited in the business account. However, if the money was transferred to a personal account, and the person made money out of it and the company found it out, then the company could ask that person to return that earning as well. Practically it is hard to find out.”

“Then if the company doesn’t file a report for use of company money, if not embezzlement, then it is possible that my friend wouldn’t be charged with anything.”

“Usually, even though the person didn’t cause any loss to the company, they don’t let him keep the job. Whether they file a report or not is really their call.”

“Thank you so much for your time.”

“You’re welcome. If you have further questions, please let me know any time.”

Gun-Ho made up his mind. He picked a day when the president seemed to be in a good mood. Gun-Ho went to the president’s office with his letter of resignation.

“What is it?”

“I made a mistake. I am terribly sorry.”

When Gun-Ho handed over his resignation letter, the president’s eyes widened.

“What happened?”

“I… I transferred money from the company’s business account to my personal account and put it back to the company account after a few days.”

“What?”

“I am terribly sorry. I didn’t cause any loss to the company but it is still wrong. So I will resign from my position.”

“What? What? What the… what are you talking about?”

The president jumped up from his seat. He started speaking the dialect. That meant he got furious.

“I do apologize. I am so so sorry, sir.”

Gun-Ho gave a 90-degree bow to the president.

“Bring the current bank statement for each bank right now!”

“I just printed them out. Here they are.”

Gun-Ho took out the bank statements from the folder he was carrying.

The president thoroughly looked at the bank statement for each bank, especially the Industrial Bank of Korea’s bank statement.

“I transferred the B2B discounted payment to my account on the 5th and put the same amount back to the company’s account on the 20th.”

The president stared at the bank statements for quite a while, and then he crumbled the papers and threw them to the floor ruthlessly.

“So, you touched the company money, huh?”

“I am terribly sorry.”

“You, f*cking as*hole!”

The president kicked Gun-Ho’s shin.

“Oww!”

“That money is the company money. Even I can’t freely touch it. How dare you take it out and put it back any way you want? Do you think you can do that as long as you don’t cause any financial loss to the company?”

“I am so sorry.”

Gun-Ho kneeled on the floor in the president’s office.

“I considered you as my younger brother so I wanted to support you to grow well in my company, and you did this to me? You moron f*cker!”

The president was breathing heavily in anger. He grabbed the orchid plant from his desk and threw it toward the wall close to Gun-Ho. The plant was smashed into pieces while spattering soil in the air.

“I am terribly sorry.”

Gun-Ho begged for the president’s forgiveness while kneeling on the floor with his head on the floor as well.