Jeju authorities are continuing with efforts to track down a former employee of Landing Casino accused of stealing KRW14.56 billion (US$13.4 million) in December, but even if they find her there is no guarantee the casino’s operator, Landing International Development Ltd, will have its funds returned.
According to a report by Jeju Sori, Jeju’s provincial police agency is not only investigating the whereabouts of the employee but also whether Landing is entitled to get its money back.
Under South Korea’s Article 8 of the Act on the Concealment of Crime Profits and Punishment Act, all criminal proceeds and property derived from crime, profits related to criminal activities, and property obtained from compensation for criminal activities are subject to confiscation. They can only be returned to the claimant pending the judgement of the court following prosecution of the accused, but if identified as criminal funds are to be redirected to the national treasury instead.
Jeju Sori cited a famous South Korean case from 2011 in which KRW11 billion (US$9.8 million) was found buried under a garlic field and eventually confiscated after being found to be the proceeds of an internet gambling operation.
Landing Casino has already stated that the KRW13 billion (US$11.6 million) in stolen funds already recovered by Jeju police are designated as operating funds of its parent, Landing International Development Ltd.
The funds are currently being held in a bank designated by the National Police Agency.
Police last month arrested one of three people alleged to be involved in the theft – a man in his 30s of Korean descent who is believed to have assisted the main suspects.
