Corruption in Hiring
Prosecutors have filed for an arrest warrant for Ham Young-joo, president of KEB Hana Bank, for his alleged involvement in the bank's hiring irregularities.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office said on May 30 that it had filed a warrant application for Ham on charges of obstruction of business and violation of the Act on Equal Employment and Support for Work-Family Reconciliation.
KEB Hana Bank has been investigated over allegations that it gave preference to certain applicants. It used non-publicized application processes for candidates related to outside directors or presidents of affiliated companies, or raised their executive interview scores.
According to the prosecution, KEB Hana Bank has also been accused of raising the scores of graduates from certain schools such as Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Korea University, and Wisconsin University after interviews, and lowering scores of graduates from Catholic University, Konkuk University, Dongguk University, Soongsil University, Myongji University, and Hanyang University.
In addition, the bank is also suspected of setting a male-female ratio before recruitment or manipulating score rankings to hire men.
The prosecution has conducted an investigation to find out what roles Ham and KEB Hana Financial Group chairman Kim Jung-tae played in the alleged recruitment irregularities. The prosecution has questioned Ham on May 25 and Kim on May 29.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has detected 22 suspicious cases of hiring irregularities in December last year and January this year, with 13 of them from KEB Hana Bank.
The prosecution, which launched the investigation on the request from the FSS, reported that its investigators found KEB Hana Bank had actually made unfair evaluations in its hiring processes between 2013 and 2016. Last month, two personnel managers of the bank were arrested.
The actual examination of the warrant for Ham will be led by Judge Kwak Hyung-seop of the Seoul Western District Court, on June 1.
In the meantime, it was revealed that KEB Hana Bank systematically urged its employees to write petitions ahead of the examination of the arrest warrant for Ham.
Industry reports said on Thursday that the bank made a guideline for petitions and requested employees to write petitions for President Ham.
In particular, the guideline advises bank officials to highlight Ham’s “symbolic qualities” as KEB Hana Bank CEO, including his nickname of “countryman” and his high school educational background.
The guideline asked employees to write about the contributions Ham has made in the process of the merger between Korea Exchange Bank and Hana Bank.
Employees are feeling pressured as they have to reveal their names and have to follow detailed examples.
A bank official said, "The requests are coming from the bank. They are being made simultaneously from several departments.”