Former EBS chairman acquitted of misusing corporate card

Yoo Si-chun, the former chairman of the Educational Broadcasting System who stood trial on charges of misusing corporate entertainment funds, was acquitted Wednesday in a first-instance ruling.

Judge Choi Dong-hwan of the Goyang Branch of Uijeongbu District Court found Yoo not guilty of breach of trust, for which he had been indicted without detention.

The court said it had some doubts about how certain entertainment expenses were spent and acknowledged suspicions of personal use, but found that prosecutors had failed to submit sufficient objective or witness evidence to prove the charges.

The court added that purchases made near Yoo's home, at distant locations, or involving groceries and flowers alone were not enough to conclude the funds had been used for personal purposes. It also noted that even if Yoo had violated internal expense guidelines, that was a separate matter from whether criminal breach of trust had been established — one to be handled through EBS's own internal recovery process.

At the closing arguments hearing on July 1, prosecutors had asked the court to sentence Yoo to one year in prison.

Yoo was indicted on charges of using a corporate card for personal purposes on 230 occasions between October 2018 and November 2023, spending about 19 million won ($13,400) in entertainment funds.

In March 2024, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission investigated allegations that Yoo had violated the Kim Young-ran Act and misused corporate entertainment funds for personal purposes, concluded there was substance to the allegations, and referred the case to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the Korea Communications Commission.

Yoo had maintained his innocence throughout, saying he had never used the entertainment funds for personal purposes.