The former head of a land development in Midan City, Incheon, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for embezzlement and breach of trust after stealing KRW3.5 billion (US$2.9 million) of public funds.
According to a report by Incheon Today, the man, who has not been named, was overseeing a cooperative that was promoting a land development project on a 3,300 square meter area in Midan City – an expansive leisure complex set to include an integrated resort with a casino.
The man, who is alleged to have stolen KRW2.68 billion (US$2.2 million) from union members between July 2014 and May 2021, another KRW180 million (US$150,000) of company money and of inflicting KRW600 million (US$503,000) in damages, fled to Jeju last June but was captured by authorities on the island two months later.
He was sentenced last week to seven years in prison by Incheon District Court’s Criminal Division 15 under the Act on Aggravated Punishment for Specific Economic Crimes.
The presiding judge said, “The amount of money for the embezzlement and breach of trust reached KRW3.46 billion” and “the quality of the crime is very poor due to repeated crimes over a long period of time.
“The accused returned only KRW100 million won to the union and made no effort to recover the damage.”
Midan City was set to be the site of an integrated resort development to be operated by US casino giant Caesars Entertainment Corp until the company sold off its 50% stake to its partner, Hong Kong-listed Guangzhou R&F Properties Co Ltd, early last year.
Guangzhou R&F, via its local subsidiary R&F Korea (RFKR), recently submitted a second request to the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to extend the construction deadline of its Midan City Resort Complex development by two years – until March 2024 – following a series of funding and construction delays.
Currently stalled at just 25%, if and when the project is completed it will include a foreigner-only casino, 751 hotel rooms, a theater and a convention space. It will also become Incheon’s third IR development following Paradise City, opened in 2016, and Mohegan Gaming’s Inspire Korea, due to open in 2023.
