CHANGWON — A bookkeeper at an apartment complex management office in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, has been booked on charges of embezzling more than 170 million won ($123,000) in maintenance fees.
The Masan Jungbu Police Station said on the 1st that it had booked the bookkeeper, a woman in her 50s identified only by her surname A, without detention on charges of occupational embezzlement.
A is accused of embezzling more than 170 million won in maintenance fees in about 30 separate instances beginning in January 2023, while working as a bookkeeper at an apartment management office in Masanhappo District, Changwon.
According to investigators, when the management office changed its official seal in January 2023, A stamped the new seal on withdrawal request forms in advance and used them to transfer maintenance fees to accounts held in family members' names.
The scheme came to light during an external accounting audit conducted in late June this year, when the balance in the maintenance fee account did not match the records. The accounting firm asked the management office head on July 1 to explain discrepancies in the ledgers.
A confessed to the embezzlement to the head of the complex's operating committee and turned herself in to police in early July. The operating committee also filed a complaint against A with police.
At the request of residents, an external accounting audit of the past five years of ledgers is also under way. Residents say the complex's internal audits were inadequate and are demanding accountability.
Police are investigating the exact circumstances of the case and the full scale of the embezzlement.
