A manufacturing representative who received goods while hiding financial difficulties was acquitted of fraud charges.. Why?

A manufacturing representative who was booked on charges of concluding a supply contract with another company while hiding financial difficulties and failing to pay the price was acquitted.

According to the Asan Police Station in South Chungcheong Province on the 30th, a decision was made not to forward Mr. A, who was booked on fraud charges last month.

Mr. A, the registered CEO of a production equipment manufacturer, has delegated the actual business to Mr. B, the actual CEO.

Mr. B, who was in charge of the overall business, signed a contract to supply goods worth 210 million won with a customer around September 2023.

However, at the time, the company was experiencing financial difficulties and could not afford to pay the contracted companies.

However, Mr. B concealed this fact and proceeded with the contract, and continued to procure goods from the victim company.

In the end, the business partner received only 20 million won in payment and did not receive the remaining 190 million won back, so they sued Mr. A and others for fraud.

Mr. A, who had not received a report on the company's financial situation from Mr. B, denied all charges.

The claim was that Mr. B was involved in all business, and that even whether to proceed with the contract was done without consultation.

The police also determined that Mr. A was not guilty.

The reason was, “There is no objective evidence that he participated in a criminal act, so it cannot be said that he conspired with Mr. B to deceive the complainant.”

Attorney Nam Sang-gwan of Daeryun Law Firm, who represented Mr. A, explained, "The problem arose due to Mr. B operating the company arbitrarily without reporting the company's difficult operating situation. Mr. A is only a representative in name, and there was no intention or execution of joint processing with Mr. B in relation to this case."

In addition, he added, "Mr. A entrusted the management of the company to Mr. B, and Mr. A had no participation whatsoever in the overall aspects such as project execution, customer selection, material purchase, sales, etc. Therefore, there is no reason for Mr. A to be held criminally responsible."
 

Jeong Eui-jin (jej88@ikbc.co.kr)

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Manufacturing representative who received goods while hiding financial difficulties was acquitted of fraud charges... Why? (Shortcut)