An LH executive who used inside information to buy land near a candidate development site for market profit has been sentenced to prison.

The Daejeon District Court sentenced Mr. A (58), who was charged with violating the Act on the Establishment and Operation of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, to 1 year and 6 months in prison.

Mr. A also confiscated 541 square meters of land in Yuseong-gu that he bought in the joint name of his wife.

On July 3, 2020, Mr. A, a third-level LH manager, learned about non-public development information such as location information while listening to his subordinates explain the business outline of the business area in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, which was selected as a candidate site for a public housing district.

If the contents of the data were disclosed, there was a risk that it would cause speculation and an increase in land prices, so a security pledge was even written.

However, ten days later, on August 7, a real estate agent's office in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, signed a sales contract to purchase a detached house and a 28㎡ plot of land 8 meters away from the candidate site for 10.140 billion won.

I borrowed 541 million won to finance the purchase and bought it in the joint name of my spouse.

Mr. A argued that he did not know the location of the business location because he did not receive the explanation properly, but the court did not accept it, saying that he was not convinced in view of the fact that he had lived in Daejeon since he was a child and was familiar with the business area, and that he visited a nearby authorized brokerage office only four days after checking the data.

Judge Kim stated that the defendant acquired real estate by using secrets learned in the course of his work in order to gain market profits, and that he deserved severe punishment for undermining the public's trust in public officials and encouraging speculation using illegal information.

Mr. A appealed against the judgment of the first instance.

(Photo = Yonhap News)